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BR    45     .B63    1881 

Dudley,  T.  U.  1837-1904 

A  wise  discrimination 


&{)t  13o1jlnt  JUctures,  1881 


A  WISE  DISCRIMINATION 


The  Church's  Need 


THOMAS  UNDERWOODVDUDLEY,  D.D. 

ASSISTANT-BISHOP  OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  KENTUCKY 


Delivered  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Phila- 
delphia, in  February,  i88r 


NEW  YORK 
THOMAS    WHITTAKER 

2  and  3  Bible  House 
l8Sl 


Copyright 

1881 

By  Thomas  Whittaker 


The  John  Bohlen  Lectureship. 


John  Bohlen,  who  died  in  this  city  on  the  26th  day 
of  April,  1874,  bequeathed  to  trustees  a  fund  of  One 
Hundred  Thousand  Dollars,  to  be  distributed  to  religious 
and  charitable  objects  in  accordance  with  the  well-known 
wishes  of  the  testator. 

By  a  deed  of  trust,  executed  June  2,  1875,  the  trustees, 
under  the  will  of  Mr.  Bohlen,  transferred  and  paid  over 
to  "The  Rector,  Church  Wardens,  and  Vestrymen  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Philadelphia,"  in  trust,  a  sum 
of  money  for  certain  designated  purposes,  out  of  which 
fund  the  sum  of  Ten  Thousand  Dollars  was  set  apart  for 
the  endowment  of  The  John  Bohlen  Lectureship, 
upon  the  following  terms  and  conditions : 

"  The  money  shall  be  invested  in  good  substantial  and 
safe  securities,  and  held  in  trust  for  a  fund  to  be  called 
The  John  Bohlen  Lectureship,  and  the  income  shall  be 
applied  annually  to  the  payment  of  a  qualified  person, 
whether  clergyman  or  layman,  for  the  delivery  and  pub- 
lication of  at  least  one  hundred  copies  of  two  or  more 
lecture  sermons.  These  lectures  shall  be  delivered  at 
such  time  and   place,  in  the  city  of   Philadelphia,  as   the 


persons  nominated  to  appoint  the  lecturer  shall  from 
time  to  time  determine,  giving  at  least  six  months'  notice 
to  the  person  appointed  to  deliver  the  same,  when  the 
same  may  conveniently  be  done,  and  in  no  case  selecting 
the  same  person  as  lecturer  a  second  time  within  a  pe- 
riod of  five  years.  The  payment  shall  be  made  to  said 
bcturer,  after  the  lectures  have  been  printed  and  received 
by  the  trustees,  of  all  the  income  for  the  year  derived 
from  said  fund,  after  defraying  the  expense  of  printing 
the  lectures  and  the  other  incidental  expenses  attending 
the  same. 

"The  subject  of  such  lectures  shall  be  such  as  is  within 
the  terms  set  forth  in  the  will  of  the  Rev.  John  Bampton, 
for  the  delivery  of  what  are  known  as  the  '  Bampton 
Lectures,'  at  Oxford,  or  any  other  subject  distinctively 
connected  with  or  relating  to  the  Christian  Religion. 

"The  lecturer  shall  be  appointed  annually  in  the  month 
of  May,  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  can  conveniently  be 
done,  by  the  persons  who  for  the  time  being  shall  hold 
the  offices  of  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  the  Diocese  in  which  is  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity; 
the  Rector  of  said  Church ;  the  Professor  of  Biblical  Learn- 
ing, the  Professor  of  Systematic  Divinity,  and  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Ecclesiastical  History,  in  the  Divinity  School  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Philadelphia. 

"  In  case  either  of  said  offices  are  vacant,  the  others 
may  nominate  the  lecturer." 

Under  this  trust  the  Right  Reverend  Thomas  Under- 
wood Dudley,  D.D.,  Assistant  Bishop  of  the  Diocese 
of  Kentucky,  was  appointed  to  deliver  the  lectures  for 
the  year  1881. 

Philadelphia,  Septuagesima,  1881. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE   I. 

PAGE 

Discrimination  as  to  Dogma 9 


LECTURE    II. 
Discrimination  as  to  Evidences 65 

LECTURE   III. 
Discrimination  as  to  Ritual 125 

LECTURE    IV. 
Discrimination  as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement,  .  191 


LECTURE    I. 

Discrimination  as  to  Dogma. 


OCT  Ibei 
rHSOLOG 


LECTURE    I. 

DISCRIMINATION   AS    TO    DOGMA. 

"...  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised 
Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved." — Romans  io  :  g. 

AM  asked  to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures 
-■■  designed  to  "  confirm  and  establish  the 
Christian  Faith."  May  1  be  pardoned  that  I 
add,  I  feel  myself  to  be  summoned  by  the 
voice  of  him  who  years  ago  welcomed  me,  a 
stranger,  a  novice,  a  beggar  for  help  to  preach 
this  same  faith  in  a  war-desolated  region,  and 
sent  me  on  my  way  rejoicing  in  the  gift  he  had 
bestowed,  as  in  the  hearty  God-speed  he  had 
spoken  ?  I  come  that  by  my  voice  he,  being 
dead,  may  yet  speak.  I  pray  that  the  true  light 
in  which  he  now  stands  may  illumine  my  mind, 
that  I  may  know  what  things  I  ought  to  speak, 
and  that  the  grace  of  Him  to  Whom  he  is  gone 
may  make  me  bold  that,  in  plain,  unmistakable 
words,  1  may  testify  that  I  have  learned. 


io  Discrimination 


As  I  begin  to  write  there  rises  straightway 
the  thought  of  the  contrast  between  the  teach- 
ing of  the  men  who  were  "  eye-witnesses  and 
ministers  of  the  Word,"  and  of  those  who  now 
for  a  thousand  years  past  have  sat  in  their 
seats  as  "  leaders  and  commanders  to  the 
people." 

Among  the  documents  of  the  faith,  the  writ- 
ten memorials  of  the  things  to  be  believed,  I 
lay  my  hand  upon  that  "  triumphant  paean"* 
of  orthodoxy  which  the  mighty  name  of  the 
conqueror  at  Nicaea  protected  from  the  anath- 
ema of  the  Councils  of  Ephesus  and  Chalce- 
don.  It  is  nearly  two  hundred  years  since 
scholars  abandoned  the  hypothesis  that  this 
Symbol  could  lay  claim  to  the  name  of  the 
11  Father  of  Orthodoxy"  ;  and  yet  to-day  its 
metaphysical  subtleties,  its  abstruse  definitions 
are  to  a  multitude  the  normal  expression  of 
the  true  catholic  faith  ;  and  until  now  in  our 
mother  Church  of  England  the  thunder  tones 
of  its  "everlasting  no,"  its    proclamation    of 

*  Dean  Stanley,  quoted  by  Schaff,  "  History  of  Creeds," 
vol.  i.  p.  35. 


as  to  Dogma. 


despair,  still  reverberate  with  discordant  roar 
through  the  "  long-drawn  aisles"  where  sounds 
the  pealing  anthem  of  hope.  And  alas  !  even 
in  our  day  and  in  our  own  household  is  heard 
the  suggestion  that  we  shall  seek  to  bind  the 
limbs  of  our  countrymen  with  these  cords  of 
dogma  ;  that  we  too  shall  pronounce  anathema 
against  misbelief,  and  give  assurance  of  salva- 
tion to  correctness  of  opinion. 

"The  catholic  faith  is  this":  the  Pseudo- 
Athanasius  cries — even  a  logical  definition  of 
the  nature  of  the  infinite  and  incomprehensible 
Godhead  —  "  which  faith  except  every  one  do 
keep  whole  and  undefiled,  without  doubt  he 
shall  perish  everlastingly."  Ah  !  how  like  a 
breeze  of  pure  air  from  far-away  mountains 
comes  to  the  spirit,  fast  bound  and  imprisoned 
within  these  walls  of  scholastic  speculative 
dogmatism,  this  writing  which  Phoebe  the 
widow  has  brought  from  the  tent-maker  at 
Corinth  to  the  handful  of  Christians  at  Rome  ! 
Therein  he  has  written  words  hard  to  be  under- 
stood ;  yes,  therein  he  attains  to  such  height 
of  argument  as  uninspired  intellect  can  never 


1 2  Discrimination 


reach.  He  looks  with  open  eyes  through  the 
blue  veil  which  hides  the  Omnipotent  ;  he  is 
caught  up  into  "  the  third  heaven"  tu  behold 
things  which  cannot  be  uttered  in  human  Ian- 
guage.  Thus  instructed  he  writes  for  all  the 
men  of  all  time,  "  the  revelation  of  the  mystery 
which  was  kept  secret  since  the  world  began, 
but  now  is  made  manifest."  But,  mark  you, 
there  is  no  judgment  of  exclusion  from  the  hope 
of  heaven  pronounced  against  all  who  cannot 
accept  even  these  apostolic  definitions,  "whole 
and  undefiled"  ;  and  the  very  climax  and  con- 
clusion of  the  whole  system  is  the  words  I  have 
read  as  the  motto  of  our  lecture.  St.  Paul,  too, 
says:  "Whosoever  will  be  saved,  before  all 
things  it  is  necessary  that  he  hold  the  catholic 
faith"  .  .  .  "and  the  catholic  faith  is  this"  : 
"  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God 
hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be 
saved." 

Again,  I  take  my  place  among  that  motley 
multitude  which  crowds  Jerusalem  at  the  Pen- 
tecost, and    listen    to  the  first    Christian    ser- 


as  to  Dogma. 


mon  which  the  world  ever  heard.  Simon  Peter 
is  the  preacher,  the  man  who  once  leaped  into 
the  sea  to  come  to  his  Master  ;  who  afterward 
turned  coward  at  the  question  of  a  little  servant- 
girl  in  the  palace  of  the  high  priest,  and  denied 
that  Master,  as  He  had  foretold.  But  he  is 
the  man  to  whom  was  given  the  personal  and 
peculiar  warrant  of  apostolic  power  ;  to  whom 
was  sent  the  special  message  from  the  opened 
sepulchre  ;  and  he  is  the  man  into  whose  heart 
thrice  went  the  probing  question,  "  Lovest 
thou  Me  ?"  Always  first  named  in  the  chosen 
company  of  witnesses,  he  first  makes  proclama- 
tion of  the  message,  he  first  opens  the  door  of 
the  kingdom,  to  both  Jew  and  Gentile.  Does 
he  not  know  what  is  the  Gospel  he  is  sent  to 
preach  ?  Hear  him  :  He  justifies  the  extraor- 
dinary multiform  utterances  of  his  fellows  on 
the  ground  that  the  prediction  of  Joel  is  ful- 
filled and  the  Spirit  is  outpoured  in  visions  to 
the  young,  and  dreams  to  the  old,  and  in 
prophecies  to  their  sons  and  daughters  ;  these 
wonders  and  signs  in  heaven  and  earth  do 
herald  the  day  of  the  Lord,  on  Whom  whoso- 


Discrimination 


ever  should  call  should  be  saved.  Then  maik 
what  follows  :  "  Ye  men  of  Israel,  hear  these 
words  :  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  man  approved  of 
God  among  you  by  miracles  and  wonders  and 
signs,  which  God  did  by  Him  in  the  midst  of 
you,  as  ye  yourselves  also  know  ;  Him  being 
delivered  by  the  determinate  counsel  and  for<^- 
knowledge  of  God,  ye  have  taken,  and  by 
wicked  hands  have  crucified  and  slain  ;  Whom 
God  hath  raised  up,  having  loosed  the  pains  of 
death,  because  it  was  not  possible  that  He 
should  be  holden  of  it."*  Hebrew  prophecy 
is  again  summoned — for  remember  he  is  speak- 
ing to  the  sons  of  Abraham — to  justify  expecta- 
tion of  the  resurrection,  and  the  preacher  adds  : 
"  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,  whereof  we 
all  are  witnesses.  Therefore  being  by  the 
right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having  received 
of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
He  hath  shed  forth  this  which  ye  now  see  and 
hear.  Therefore,"  he  adds— grand,  all-satisfy- 
ing, all-demanding  conclusion! — "  Therefore, 
let  all  the  house  of  Israel  know  assuredly  that 
*  Acts  2. 


as  to  Dogma.  15 


God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus,  Whom  ye 
have  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ." 

This  is  Apostolic  preaching,  even  this  :  God 
hath  raised  His  Son  from  the  dead,  and  there- 
fore the  Holy  Ghost,  the  illuminating,  the 
convincing,  the  enabling  Spirit,  He  is  come  to 
all  who  hear  this  word.  Therefore — mark  it — 
therefore  "repent,"  says  the  preacher;  "re- 
pent and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you,  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of 
sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

How  much  did  they  know  of  what,  in  the 
language  of  our  popular  theology,  is  called 
"the  plan  of  salvation" — these  men  and 
women  who  crowded  the  way  to  the  water  of 
baptism  ?  Could  not  any  child  of  our  Sunday- 
schools  have  puzzled  them  with  questions  to 
which  he  could  give  accurate  reply  ?  They  be- 
lieved what  ?  That  Jesus  was  the  Christ  ;  that 
God  the  Father  had  raised  His  Son  from  the 
dead  ;  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  given  ;  and 
believing  this  they  were  baptized  into  the  hope 
and  covenant  of  salvation. 


[  6  Discrim  i  nation 


How  unlike  this  to  much  of  the  discourse  now 
heard  from  the  pulpits  of  the  Christian  Church  ! 
Polished  complexity  is  come  intc  the  room  of 
the  rugged  simplicity  of  the  beginning  ;  inge- 
nious speculations  are  offered  in  place  of  the 
inexplicable  realities  ;  and  the  acceptance  of  a 
system  of  dogma,  the  assertion  of  a  stereotyped 
experience,  the  understanding  and  approval  of 
an  Ecclesiastical  Order,  the  renunciation  of  a 
catalogued  series  of  arbitrarily  selected  indul- 
gences— all  these  are  demanded  as  the  pass- 
word at  the  gate  of  the  pilgrim  pathway, 
though  there  is  written  above  it  in  letters  large 
and  plain  :  "If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in 
thine  heart,  that  God  hath  raised  Him  from 
the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

Again,  I  remember  that  "  the  beloved  physi- 
cian" writes  to  Theophilus  that  the  occasion 
of  the  history  which  he  had  "  taken  in  hand  " 
is  that  he  might  "  know  the  certainty  of  those 
things  wherein  he  had  been  instructed,"  or 
catechised.  Of  what  things  had  been  the 
questions  and  answers  in  the  assembly,  of  which 


as  to  Dogma.  17 


the  youth  had  been  one,  when  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week  they  met  where  "  the  doors  were 
shut  for  fear  of  the  Jews"  ?  The  nature  of  the 
Godhead  ?  He  has  heard  how  that  Jesus  de- 
clared that  Jehovah,  the  Lord  God,  is  One,  that 
this  God  is  His  own  Father,  and  that  He  and 
His  Father  are  One.  He  has  heard  how  Jesus 
said  that  the  Holy  Ghost  should  teach  His  ser- 
vants what  they  "  ought  to  say"  in  the  hour 
of  danger  and  of  trial,  and  how  He  proclaimed 
the  awful  majesty  of  that  God-Spirit  by  the 
denial  of  possible  forgiveness  of  blasphemy 
against  Him.  And  He  has  heard  of  the  part- 
ing commandment  to  His  disciples,  that  they 
baptize  men  into  the  name  of  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost.  What  more  ?  He  has  learned 
that  the  Son  of  God  was  manifested  to  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil,  and  that  by  His  lifting 
up  He  would  draw  all  men  unto  Him  that  they 
might  be  saved  from  the  evil  in  the  world.' 
Code  of  morality  ?  He  has  heard  that  the 
Spirit  of  Jesus  is  spirit  of  love  to  God  and  man, 
and  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law  ;  for  it  is  at  once 
all-embracing  commandment  and  all-powerful 


Discrimination 


motive.  In  a  word,  he  has  been  taught  the 
events  of  that  marvellous  life  which  had  been 
born  at  Bethlehem,  and  was  now  gone  away  to 
the  highest  heavens  ;  and  that  to  know  Him 
and  to  confess  Him — confess  with  the  mouth 
and  receive  into  the  heart — was  salvation  from 
the  evil.  Decrees  of  God  !  He  had  heard  of 
them  only  in  their  fulfilment.  The  Father 
loved  the  world,  and  gave  His  only  begotten 
Son,  "  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  Sacra- 
ments, their  nature  and  efficacy?  The  very 
word  was  not  yet  coined,  but  he  knew  that  with 
washing  of  water  must  there  be  confession  of 
the  Lord,  and  that  with  bread  and  wine  must 
Memorial  be  made  of  that  death  which  is  his 
life. 

How  simple  had  been  his  instruction  !  He 
learned  the  facts  of  Jesus'  life,  the  plainest 
promises  He  had  spoken.  Now  there  is  the 
very  embarrassment  of  riches  in  the  selection 
of  the  instruction-book  for  the  catechumen, 
and  the  learner  of  the  lesson  of  salvation  must 
often  begin  afar  back  in  the  eternity  of  the 


as  to  Dogma.  19 


past,  with  speculations  about  the  economy  of 
the  Divine  government,  and  his  course  extend 
to  as  minute  speculations  of  that  which  shall 
be  the  final  outcome  of  that  government's  rule. 
In  the  midst  shall  be  theories  upon  theories,  of 
inspiration,  of  incarnation,  of  atonement,  of 
grace  ;  until  our  Theophilus,  alas  !  is  bewildered 
by  the  much  learning  into  practical  forgetful- 
ness  of  the  Life  that  was  manifested  to  be  the 
Light  of  men,  and  of  the  fact  that  He  was  born, 
and  died,  and  rose  again,  and  that  whosoever 
shall  confess  Him  with  his  mouth,  and  believe 
in  his  heart, — mark  you ,  in  his  heart — that  He 
has  brought  with  Him  from  the  grave  a  never- 
dying  life,  shall  share  that  risen  life,  and  in  its 
power  be  saved  from  sin  which  is  death. 

I  believe,  men  and  brethren,  that  herein  is 
one  largest  part  of  the  hindrance  to  the 
progress  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  among 
men  ;  that  herein  is  at  least  partial  explanation 
of  the  fact  that  it  must  be  defended  from 
assault  ;  and  of  the  further  sadder  fact  that  in 
our  day  "  the  enemy  cometh  on  so  fast"  that 
the  Church  beginneth  to  be  afraid,  and  to  speak 


Discrimination 


coward  words  of  unbelief ;  namely,  that  by 
Christian  teachers  so  much  of  mere  theological 
opinion  is  mingled  with  the  essential  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus  ;  that  so  much  of  theory  is 
blended  with  the  proclamation  of  the  perhaps 
inexplicable  facts  it  would  explain  ;  that  so 
many  questions  of  theology,  of  morality,  and 
even  of  philosophy  and  of  history,  are  made  to 
appear  as  part  of  the  Christian  religion,  and 
upon  their  settlement  one  way  or  another  is 
made  to  depend  the  correctness,  the  reality, 
the  "  soundness,"  as  it  is  called,  of  our  Chris- 
tian belief  ;  nay,  that,  seemingly  but  too  often, 
Christianity  is  made  to  stand  or  fall  with 
them.  And  so  the  men  who  cannot  accept  our 
philosophy — be  it  physical,  metaphysical,  or 
historical — are  driven  away  from  the  confession 
of  the  divine  fact,  and  are  shut  out  from  the 
home  of  hope.  A  great  company  of  them, 
which  no  man  can  number,  as  I  think  (for  how 
can  I  help  so  thinking  when  I  listen  to  the 
words  of  the  Master,  and  remember  the  con- 
vincing power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  con- 
straining power  of  the  love  of  Christ  ?),  do  be- 


as  to  Dogma.  21 


lieve  in  the  heart  that  God  hath  raised  Jesus 
from  the  dead,  and  in  the  new  hope  born  of 
that  resurrection,  and  by  the  grace  of  His  Spirit 
do  confess  Him,  though  not  with  the  mouth, 
and  do  follow  Him,  while  they  strive  after  the 
things  that  are  true,  and  honest,  and  just,  and 
pure,  and  lovely,  and  of  good  report.  But 
they  come  not  into  any  organized  division  of 
the  Christian  host  ;  they  give  not  the  help 
which  we  so  much  need,  and  which  it  is  their 
bounden  duty  to  bestow  ;  they  receive  not  the 
visible  pledge,  the  covenant  seal,  their  hearts 
cannot  but  desire  ;  and  the  Church  is  clamor- 
ous with  the  questions,  "  Why  do  not  men  come 
forward  to  confess  Christ,"  and  "  How  shall  we 
reach  the  masses?"  Answers  multiform  are 
spoken  in  reply.  I  answer  that  which  I  believe, 
that  undue  development  of  Christian  dogma, 
unwise  statement  of  Christian  evidences,  un- 
warranted demand  of  belief  and  practice,  are 
perhaps  largest  factors  in  the  solution  of  our 
problem.  Our  systems  of  doctrine,  builded  by 
our  fathers,  the  champions  of  the  faith  in  their 
generation,   have  become  at  too  many  points 


22  Discrimi?iation 


but  obstacles  to  the  approach  of  our  friends 
and  countrymen  ;  for  the  fast-flowing  river  of 
unbelief  has  in  its  furious  course  cut  out  a  new 
channel,  and  left  our  levees  to  separate  us  only 
from  the  land  where  dwell  our  kinsfolk.  We 
have  forgotten  that  theological  statement  must 
always  have  closest  relation  to  the  philosophy 
of  the  age  ;  we  ha've  forgotten  that  no  logically 
formulated  system  of  dogma,  that  no  marshalled 
array  of  evidence  is  of  divine  origin,  and  there- 
fore of  universal  and  eternal  value  ;  we  have 
forgotten  what  the  Laureate  sings  : 

"  Our  little  systems  have  their  day, 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be  : 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  Thee, 
And  Thou  O  Lord  art  more  than  they." 

And  therefore  a  multitude  of  men,  recalcitrant 
against  our  inferences,  refuse  to  confess  the 
facts  from  which  we  will  consent  that  no  other 
deduction  may  come. 

Doubtless  the  progress  of  theological  de- 
velopment was  an  inevitable  result  of  the  re- 
ception of  the  facts  of  the  Gospel  by  the  human 
intellect.       The    fantastic    dreamings    of   that 


as  to  Dogma.  23 


Jewish-Gentile  gnosis  which  St.  Paul  condemns 
are  but  the  natural  consequence  of  bringing 
together  the  revelation  of  the  Christ  and  their 
Oriental  theosophy  ;  and  the  definitions  of  the 
false  Athanasius,  the  Westminister  Confession, 
the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  are  all,  it  seems  to  me, 
the  no  less  natural  effort  to  express  the  tradi- 
tional aspect  of  the  eternal  realities  agreeably 
to  the  philosophic  conception  of  the  day,  and 
in  the  language  of  the  different  schools. 

Just  as  natural,  perhaps  just  as  inevitable, 
has  been  the  consequent  division  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  into  schools  of  thought,  and  then 
its  disruption  into  rival  sects.  I  shall  not  call 
the  roll  of  the  contending  legions  which  in  this 
our  own  land  march  all  under  the  same  banner, 
and  yet  whose  unseemly  rivalries  and  un- 
brotherly  dissensions  so  much  disfigure  the 
glory  of  the  one  Leader,  to  Whom  all  alike 
have  sworn  the  soldier's  oath  of  allegiance. 
The  divisions  at  Corinth,  which  the  name  of 
the  greatest  of  all  Apostles  was  employed  to 
foster,  have  but  repeated  themselves  until  now, 


H 


Discrimination 


when,  alas  !  all  the  passages  of  the  Jordan 
which  separates  the  world  from  the  Church, 
which  flows  as  protection  about  the  city  of  our 
refuge,  are  guarded  by  men  of  Gilead,  each 
company  demanding  a  peculiar  "  shibboleth," 
so  that  the  most  valiant  defender  may  cross  the 
stream  and  enter  the  city  at  none  other  pas- 
sage than  that  which  he  guards  ;  and  the  way- 
farer, confused  by  the  multiform  demand,  will 
contentedly  dwell  without.  And  yet,  men  and 
brethren,  is  it  not  true,  absolutely,  incontro- 
vertibly  true,  that  the  ground  of  hope  is  with 
each  and  all  the  same  ?  Is  it  not  true  that, 
from  the  self-styled  infallible  vicar  of  God  upon 
earth  to  the  most  illiterate  and  most  bigoted 
partisan  of  ultra  Protestantism,  each  and  all 
believe  "  that  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in 
thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  Him  from  the 
dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved  ?" 

We  Christians  are  separated  into  almost  hos- 
tile bands  ;  and  those  without,  who  believe  as 
we  believe,  and  are  being  saved  from  sin  as  we 
are,  by  the   might   of  the  Spirit  of  Jesus,  yet 


as  to  Dogma.  25 


have  not  put  on  the  badge— why  ?  Because  the 
leaders,  in  their  very  eagerness  to  make  it  more 
plainly  visible,  in  their  honest  desire  to  protect 
it  from  disgrace,  and  to  make  it  more  efficient 
protection  to  him  who  shall  wear  it,  have  add- 
ed new  features  which  the  recruit  cannot  find 
in  "the  pattern  shown  in  the  mount."  Yes, 
my  brethren,  I  believe  that  the  evil  of  our 
Christian  age,  the  burden  under  which  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus  Christ  is  being  wearied  that  its 
mighty  strength  cannot  be  displayed,  is  the 
erecting  of  mere  theological  opinions  and  theo- 
ries into  articles  of  the  faith  ;  the  making  tests 
of  communion  with  the  Church  on  earth  other 
than  the  one  simple,  all-embracing  test  of  the 
Apostle,  the  loyal  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  risen  Saviour,  as  the  very  hidden  man  of 
the  heart,  that  animated,  enabled,  restrained, 
directed,  controlled  by  His  Spirit,  the  life  we 
live  therefore  may  be  His  life  ;  and  the  honest 
confession  of  this  acceptance  publicly  as  He 
appointed. 

Therefore   I   am   come   to   speak  to   you   of 
Discrimination    as    the    crying    need    of    the 


26  Discrimination 


Church  to-day  ;  Discrimination  as  to  Dogma, 
that  we  preach  according  to  the  analogy  of  the 
faith  ;  that  we  preach  only  Jesus  and  the 
resurrection  as  the  essential  revelation,  the 
Gospel  of  good  tidings  ;  that  we  preach  plain- 
ly the  Apostles'  Creed  as  the  statement  of 
facts  to  be  received  (for  I  thank  God  from  my 
heart  that  only  this  is  demanded  by  the  vener- 
able Church  whose  commission  we  bear)  ;  that 
we  preach  Him,  and  not  any  theories  about 
Him  ;  Him  the  only  begotten  Son  of  the 
Father  ;  Him  the  Revealer  of  that  Father  as 
the  Father  of  all  men  ;  Him  the  Mediator, 
Redeemer,  Sanctifier,  Whose  Spirit  shall  be 
ours  if  we  believe  in  our  heart  and  confess 
with  our  mouth,  shall  be  ours  to  teach  us 
what  we  ought  to  do,  and  to  enable  the  per- 
formance. 

But  I  would  not  be  misunderstood  to  speak 
disrespectfully  or  slightingly  of  the  great  body  of 
other  doctrines,  important,  interesting,  help- 
ful to  many,  which  are  connected  in  one  way 
or  another  with  the  religion  of  Jesus.  Surely 
there    are    heights    of   holy  knowledge    to  be 


as  to  Dogma.  27 


scaled,  there  are  depths  of  revealed  truth  to  be 
fathomed.  Light  is  thrown  back  upon  the 
eternal  past,  and  we  may  please  ourselves  with 
guesses  about  the  Divine  working  ;  light  is  cast 
forward  upon  the  uncertain  future,  and  we  may 
speculate  on  our  knees  what  the  end  shall  be. 
Yes,  the  disciple  of  this  risen  Master  will  be 
ever  learning,  that  he  may  come  to  the  full 
knowledge  of  the  truth  at  last.  The  words  of 
the  Christ  Himself,  the  words  of  His  Apostles 
who  spake  in  His  Name  and  by  His  Spirit, 
afford  material  for  thoughtful,  prayerful  study, 
are  the  wells  of  salvation  from  which  we  must 
draw  the  living  water  to  refresh  our  thirsty 
spirits  ;  but  to  the  man  who  asks  now  as  afore- 
time, What  must  I  do  that  I  may  be  saved  ? — 
saved  here  if  there  be  no  heaven  nor  hell  be- 
yond— the  answer  is  to  be  now  as  then  :  not 
any  inquisitorial  search  to  find  out  what  have 
been  the  dealings  of  the  Spirit  with  his  spirit, 
not  any  setting  forth  of  theory  as  to  the  nature 
of  atonement,  not  any  forensic  metaphors  of 
imputation  of  guilt  and  of  righteousness,  nor 
mercantile  simile  of  bargain  and  payment  ;  nay, 


28  Discrimination 

these  are  but  theories,  efforts  to  explain  the  in- 
explicable ;  but  I  will  tell  him  who  Jesus  was, 
and  what  He  was  :  His  life,  His  death,  His 
resurrection  ;  and  then;  "  If  thou  shalt  confess 
with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  believe  in 
thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  Him  from  the 
dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

Secondly,  I  wish  to  speak  of  the  need  for 
discrimination  in  the  method  we  shall  adopt  in 
presenting  the  evidences  of  Christianity  to  un- 
belief. 

Thirdly,  I  would  make  application  of  this 
same  principle  to  our  differences  of  opinion 
touching  ritual  or  worship — the  mode  of  ex- 
pressing our  devotion  to  Him  in  Whom  we  have 
believed,  and  Whom  we  have  confessed. 

And  fourthly,  I  would  ask  for  discrimination 
in  the  judgment  of  Christian  people  concerning 
questions  relating  to  recreation  and  amuse- 
ment ;  questions  as  to  whose  decision  I  believe 
that  we  are  now  standing  on  ground  that  is 
wholly  untenable. 

And  in  beginning  to  speak  in  this  first  Lec- 
ture of  the  necessity  for  discrimination  in  the 


as  to  Dogma.  29 


presentation  of  dogmatic  truth,  I  would  make 
plain,  if  possible,  that  I  am  not  quarrelling  with 
Creeds  and  Confessions  of  faith,  nor  yet  with 
Catechisms  and  Articles  of  Religion.  I  recog- 
nize fully  the  authority  of  the  Church  to  fash- 
ion such  caskets  to  enshrine  the  precious  de- 
posit ;  I  recognize  not  only  the  right  to  form, 
but  also  the  necessity  for,  such  tests  of  even 
the  religious  opinions  of  those  whom  she  will 
send  forth  to  teach  and  to  premonish  her  chil- 
dren, to  warn  and  persuade  men  that  they 
neglect  not  the  great  salvation.  I  further  rec- 
ognize their  value  as  lights  shining  in  a  dark 
place,  and  so  helping  the  unlearned  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  those  Scriptures  by 
which  they  may  be  "most  surely  proven." 
But  if  the  casket  shall  be  offered  as  the  jewel 
itself  ;  or  if  some  earnest,  honest  inquirer  can- 
not find  his  way  to  its  opening  ;  if  to  some 
mind  the  interpretation  of  Catechism  or  Article 
be  a  darkening  of  the  truth  as  he  has  learned 
it,  shall  he  be  denied  the  privilege  of  the 
baptismal  sign  or  of  the  Master's  feast  ? 

As  I  said  a  little  while  ago,  my  brethren,  I 


30  Discrimination 


thank  God  that  we  have  inherited,  as  part  of 
the  wisdom  of  the  ages,  our  Office  for  the  Ad- 
ministration of  Baptism,  which  demands  as  pre- 
requisite only  the  acceptance  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  with  renunciation  of  Christ's  enemies, 
and  the  promise  of  obedience  to  His  will. 
And  these  last  are  but  the  essential  manifesta- 
tion of  the  welcome  of  Him  to  the  heart,  as 
the  supreme  authority  of  the  life.  This  is  the 
wisdom  of  the  ancient  historic  Church  ;  but 
is  her  wise  moderation  in  all  cases  suffered  to 
be  sufficient  by  those  who  minister  in  her 
name  ?  The  inquiry  cannot  be  profitless,  and 
as  profitable  it  may  be  to  consider  the  wider 
departure  from  this  Apostolic  and  Scriptural 
standard  of  required  belief,  on  the  part  of 
those  who  have  left  the  old  paths  to  follow 
some  deviser  of  new  speculative  system,  the 
propounder  of  new  theory,  who  must  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case  demand  acceptance  of 
the  system  or  the  theory  as  condition  for  en- 
rollment in  the  new  Communion. 

The  Apostle,  as   it  seems  to   me,   proclaims 
concisely  and  yet  clearly,  in  this  motto-text  I 


as  to  Dogma,  q  i 


have  read,  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  religion,  any  one  of  which  being 
taken  away  the  religion  could  have  no  reality. 
And  these  are — first,  that  there  is  a  something 
from  which  mankind,  all  mankind,  needs  to  be 
saved  ; 

Secondly,  that  a  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus, 
has  come,  and  has  accomplished  that  deliver- 
ance ;   and, 

Thirdly,  that  there  is  a  means,  even  the  faith 
of  the  heart  and  the  confession  of  the  mouth, 
by  which  each  and  every  man  born  of  a 
woman  may  secure  for  himself  the  help  of  that 
Saviour,  and  the  consequent  salvation  from 
that  which  oppresses  and  makes  afraid. 

Now  let  us  inquire  briefly  what  has  been  the 
treatment  of  these  three  fundamental  doctrines 
in  their  presentation  by  Christian  teachers  to 
the  children  of  men.  I  answer,  first  of  all, 
that  with  reference  to  each  of  the  three  there 
has  been  analysis,  exposition,  explanation,  in 
the  shape  of  pulpit  exhortation,  of  ecclesiastical 
practice,  and,  alas  !  of  dogmatic  denunciation, 
all  alike  unwarranted  by  the  Holy  Scripture. 


32  Discrimination 


Do  not  misunderstand  me,  again  I  must 
ask,  that  I  am  in  any  sense  an  opponent  of 
theological  science  and  study.  The  formula- 
tion of  a  systematic  science  of  Christian  theol- 
ogy is  a  duty,  even  a  necessity  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  and  of  Christian  scholarship.  Its 
inductions  from  the  phenomena  of  Revela- 
tion, its  deductions  from  premises  thus  found, 
are  alike  interesting  and  profitable  ;  but  I  do 
plead  that  theological  conclusions  may,  nay, 
must  be,  kept  separate  and  distinct  from  the 
essential  facts  of  Christianity,  about  which 
they  are  formed,  lest  they  prove  in  the  time 
to  come,  as  they  have  proved  in  the  time  past, 
and  are  now,  hindrances  rather  than  helps  to 
the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
among  men. 

Sin  is  a  fact— hard,  stubborn,  positive  fact — 
clearly  visible  to  every  rational  beholder  within 
and  without  himself.  Here,  there  is  no  possible 
conflict  between  Reason  and  Revelation.  The 
long  watches  by  day  and  by  night  of  the  scien- 
tist, who  calls  himself  nature's  servant,  do  but 
teach  him  that  which  the  Holy  Spirit  revealed 


as  to  Dogma.  33 


to  the  mind  of  the  Apostle,  that  "  the  whole 
creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  togeth- 
er until  now."*  Tares  are  ever  found  among 
the  wheat,  and  the  good  seed  springing  up  is 
choked  by  the  thorns.  On  earth,  in  air,  and 
sea,  the  weaker  is  the  prey  of  the  stronger,  and 
the  fittest  which  survives  is  only  the  fittest  to 
destroy.  The  lion  will  tear  the  lamb  who 
would  lie  down  by  his  side,  and  the  little  child 
who  should  lead  them.  More  than  this  :  even 
in  a  world  grown  old  under  the  constant  teach- 
ing of  the  Christian  Church,  the  works  of  the 
flesh,  those  shameless  enormities  we  may  not 
name,  which  the  Apostle  catalogues  for  the 
Galatians,  are  still  manifest  ;  and  if  so  be  that 
through  the  influence  of  Christian  civilization, 
which  is,  you  know,  a  direct  product  of  the 
religion  of  Jesus,  we  have  escaped  these  open 
violations  of  the  laws  of  common  decency,  yet 
in  ourselves  we  behold  an  ever-active  principle 
developing-  itself  into  wrath,  malice,  and  false- 
hood, if  so  be  that  we  have  learned  to  prevent 
its  utterance  of  blasphemy  and  foulness.      Yes, 

*  Romans  8  :  22. 


34  Discrimination 


there  can  be  no  controversy  here — sin  is  a  fact. 
More  than  this  :  the  universal  consciousness  of 
mankind  bears  witness  to  man's  inability  to 
master  this  enemy  who  has  gained,  how  we 
know  not,  possession  of  the  very  citadel  of  his 
life.  Pagan  poet  and  Christian  philosopher 
alike  is  spokesman  of  the  race  when  each  de- 
clares, "  The  good  that  I  would  I  do  not,  but 
the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do"  ;*  and 
it  is  the  voice  of  nature,  human  nature,  aroused 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  from  its  sleep,  to  the  recog- 
nition that  this  body  to  which  it  is  chained  is 
dead,  which  cries  out  in  St.  Paul  :  "  Wretched 
man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death  ?"f  because  the  spirit's  in- 
herent powers  are  seen  to  be  insufficient  for 
the  task.  Therefore  clearly  we  may  hold  and 
must  teach  that  a  belief  in  the  reality  of  sin  is 
a  necessary  element  of  the  belief  in  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Deliverer  from  sin  ;  that  convic- 
tion of  sin  must  precede  and  be  a-  reason  for 
the  conviction  of  righteousness,  of  that  justifi- 
cation of  the  sinner  which  the  Father  hath  pro- 

*  Romans  7  :  19.  \  Romans  7  :  22. 


as  to  Dogma.  35 


vided,    and    of    that    judgment    by  which    the 
Prince  of  this  world  shall  be  condemned. 

It  will  follow,  too,  doubtless,  that  in  propor- 
tion to  the  intensity  of  the  consciousness  of 
our  guilt  will  be  the  eagerness  of  our  joy  when 
we  have  learned  that  God  has  put  away  our 
sin,  and  the  capacity  of  our  love  for  Him  who 
has  so  loved  us.  But  what  may  I  demand  on 
this  point,  of  those  who  come  saying  with  the 
Greeks  in  the  old  time,  '*  Sir,  we  would  see 
Jesus,  we  have  heard  of  the  marvellous 
beauty  of  His  Being,  we  have  seen  the  renew- 
ing, regenerating  work  of  His  grace  ;  we  would 
join  ourselves  to  His  company  and  be  called 
by  His  name"  ?  May  I  demand  that  these 
shall  accept  my  theory  of  the  necessary  char- 
acter and  exhibition  of  what  I  call  conviction 
of  sin  ?  Shall  I  hold  up  before  them  the  pic- 
ture of  the  blinded  persecutor  on  the  Damas- 
cus road,  fallen  prostrate  to  the  earth,  over- 
whelmed by  the  vision  of  the  light  of  God's 
holiness,  hearing  no  sound  save  the  dreadful 
voice  of  demand,  personal  and  direct,  "Why 
persecutest  thou  Me?"   and   insist   that   this  is 


36  Discrimination 


the  normal  expression  of  the  dealing  of  God 
with  man,  in  the  day  when  He  looks  upon  him 
to  take  away  his  reproach  and  his  despair  ; 
whereas  the  same  Scripture  record  tells  of  other 
men,  Apostles  and  Martyrs  as  well,  who  fol- 
lowed the  Christ  under  the  compulsion  of  the 
beauty  and  glory  which  were  manifested  in 
Him,  and  only  after  long  years  of  companion- 
ship came  to  know  what  great  things  must  be 
done,  and  what  great  things  He  had  done,  for 
their  souls  ? 

"  Repentance,"  the  Church  teaches  her  chil- 
dren required  of  persons  to  be  baptized,  is 
that  "  whereby  they  forsake  sin."  Ah  !  yes, 
forsake  sin,  renounce  it  in  its  every  recognized 
form,  and  all  the  agents  inciting  to  its  perform- 
ance, and  all  the  means  by  which  they  secure 
our  compliance  :  this  the  necessary  result  of 
the  belief  with  the  heart  in  this  risen  Christ. 
'Tis  the  very  first  outgoing  of  the  newly-planted 
life  ;  but  this  one  test  complied  with,  who  shall 
dare  demand  that  other  be  offered  ?  And  yet 
is  it  not  lamentably  true  that  false  theory  on 
this  point  set  forth  as  scriptural  truth  has  been 


as  to  Dogma.  37 


a  fruitful  source  of  evil,  that  a  multitude  of  men 
honest  and  true  have  been  kept  away  from  the 
confession  of  the  Master  because  they  could 
not  proclaim  as  theirs  this  experience,  it  may 
be  real,  to  their  teachers  ?  They  might  not 
enter  the  city,  because  their  approach  had  not 
been  along  that  road  which  the  watchman  and 
guide  declares  to  be  the  only  way  of  access. 

Straightway  when  we  speak  of  this  particular 
departure  from  the  catholic  freedom  of  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus,  we  think  of  its  furthest  devel- 
opment in  the  mad  doings  of  the  followers  of 
a  good  and  great  man  :  the  anxious-bench  ; 
the  multitude  stirred  into  frenzy  by  the  clam- 
orous appeals  of  the  preacher,  which  he  makes 
to  men  and  to  God  with  equal  fervency  and 
equal  familiarity  ;  the  singing  by  a  great  con- 
gregation of  simple  melodies  with  words  of 
sweetest  simplicity  and  tenderness  ;  and  as  nat- 
ural consequence  the  physical  excitement  bred 
as  by  contagion.  These  things  we  have  seen, 
and,  alas  !  have  seen  the  professed  convert 
wake  up  the  next  day  to  consciousness  of  the 
unreality  of  the  whole  transaction,  to  recogni- 


38  Discrimination 


tion  of  the  fact  that  in  purpose  he  had  not  for- 
saken sin  and  turned  to  God,  and  to  an  after 
lifetime  of  unbelief  in  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Christian  religion.  I  believe  these  ranting 
follies  in  the  name  of  Jesus  have  done  more  to 
damage  His  cause  than  all  the  utterances  of 
that  scientific  scepticism  whose  attacks  seem 
to  be  the  only  danger  that  our  champions  now 
dread. 

But  are  we,  the  inheritors  of  that  "  form  of 
sound  words"  which  protests  by  its  prescribed 
requirements  against  such  disordered  excess 
being  the  regular  and  proper  result  of  the 
working  of  that  Spirit,  who  "  is  not  the  author 
of  confusion  but  of  peace" — are  we  without 
blame  in  this  matter  ?  Do  not  individual 
ministers  of  this  Church  unwarrantably  set  up  a 
standard  of  requirement  on  this  subject  which 
the  Church  has  not  erected  ?  "  Repentance," 
remember,  is  that  "whereby  we  forsake  sin"  ; 
that  only  this  Church  declares.  Remember, 
further,  the  instances  of  repentance  recorded 
for  our  learning  in  Holy  Scripture  are  just  as 
varied  in  their  incidental  characteristics  as  are 


as  to  Dogma.  39 


the  temperaments  of  those  in  whom  this  spirit- 
ual process  goes  on.  David  the  royal  Psalmist 
rent  his  clothes  and  lay  all  night  upon  the 
earth  when  convinced  of  his  sin  by  the  mouth 
of  the  Prophet  ;  Simon  Peter  went  out  from 
the  presence  of  the  Master  Whom  he  had  de- 
nied, and  wept  bitterly  ;  the  Publican  in  our 
Lord's  parable  "  sighed  and  smote  upon  his 
breast"  ;  Zaccheus  did  neither  weep  nor  sigh  ; 
and  the  penitence  of  each  and  all  is  declared 
equally  acceptable  to  God.  Repentance  is  that 
whereby  we  forsake  sin  ;  yes,  all  sin  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  shall  convince  us  to  be  sin  ;  and 
except  it  bear  this  fruit,  surely  our  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  is  vain  ;  but  let  us  take  good  heed 
that  we  who  have  found  peace  in  believing 
despise  not  the  experience  unlike  our  own,  and 
so  quench  the  spark  of  life  which  may  be  kin- 
dling in  the  heart. 

One  word  more  on  this  point.  May  I  demand 
of  him  who  cometh  to  confess  Jesus  Christ  that 
he  believe  in  the  eternity  of  sin,  and  so  in  the 
never-ending  duration  of  its  punishment  ? 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  I  am  not  here  to 


40  Discrimination 


express  my  assent  to,  or  my  denial  of,  any  one 
of  the  theories  upon  this  subject  which  have 
made  so  large  a  part  of  theological  controversy 
in  our  own  time.  It  matters  not  whether  the 
speaker  or  whether  any  other  divine  agree  in 
opinion — mark  you,  in  opinion — with  the  gifted 
rhetorician  of  the  Abbey  who  sets  forth  in  such 
beautiful  words  an  eternal  hope  for  all  our  race 
because  of  a  continued  probation  in  the  unseen 
world  ;  or  whether  he  follow  the  venerable  and 
learned  Oxford  Professor,  and  find  equal"  com- 
fort and  hope  in  the  thought  that  we  cannot 
know  what  souls  do  not  die  in  a  state  of  grace, 
and  "  that  the  merits  of  Jesus  reach  to  every 
one  who  wills  to  be  saved,  whether  in  this  life 
they  knew  Him  or  knew  Him  not.  "* 

It  matters  not  whether  any  individual 
Churchman  may  hold  the  opinion  of  the  elder 
Calvinists  and  of  their  modern  interpreters, 
who  even  in  popular  discourse  can  say, 
"  When  the  damned  jingle  the  burning  irons 
of  their  torment  they  shall  say,   '  For  ever  !  ' 

*  Puscy's  "  What  is  of  Faith  as  to  Eternal  Punish- 
ment ?"  p.  14. 


as  to  Dogma.  41 


when  they  howl,  echo  cries,  '  Forever  !  '  "*  or 
whether  he  accept  the  hypothesis  of  "condi- 
tional immortality,"  as  clearly  and  ably  set 
forth  by  one  of  our  own  most  distinguished 
men,  that  the  "  everlasting  punishment"  of 
the  wicked  is  the  taking  away  of  an  endless 
life.  I  say  it  matters  not  :  I  mean,  of  course, 
that  his  opinion  upon  this  confessedly  mysteri- 
ous subject  can  properly  make  no  difference  in 
his  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  message,  and 
certainly  it  can  make  no  difference  in  the  pass- 
word he  may  require  at  the  door  of  the  king- 
dom ;  for  it  seems  to  me  that  perhaps  that 
theory  containing  most  of  appeal  to  the  fear  of 
physical  suffering  offers  least  deterrent  influ- 
ence against  the  commission  of  sin. 

No  topic  of  human  thought  can  be  fraught 
with  higher  interest  than  this  :  What  shall  be 
the  condition  of  men  in  that  world  to  which 
we  depart  through  "  the  grave  and  gate  of 
death"?  Men  will  think  about  it,  and  must 
speak  about  it  to  those  whom  they  are  sent  to 
teach  ;  but  let  us  remember  ever  to  speak  our 
*  Spurgeon,  quoted  by  Farrar,  "  Eternal  Hope,"  p.  1. 


Discrimination 


opinions  as  opinions,  and  not  as  dogma  resting 
upon  Church  authority  ox  plain  scriptural  dec- 
laration. 

'  The  Church,"  it  has  been  beautifully  said, 
"  has  its  long  list  of  saints  ;  it  has  not  inserted 
one  name  in  any  catalogue  of  the  damned."41' 
As  truly  it  may  be  said,  the  Church  requires  of 
all  who  would  enter  its  communion,  the  con- 
fession of  belief  in  the  life  everlasting  but 
nowhere  has  it  asked  for  like  belief  in  the  never- 
ending  death. 

Sin  is  a  fact  ;  the  punishment  of  sin  is  a  cer- 
tainty now  and  here,  and  must  be  there  if  un- 
forgiven  and  unremoved  ;  but  what  emotional 
evidence  shall  alone  attest  our  conviction  of 
sin,  what  details  of  renunciation  other  than 
those  plainly  set  down  in  Scripture  shall  alone 
declare  our  forsaking  of  sin,  what  shall  be  its 
punishment  in  character  and  duration — these 
are  theories,  opinions,  important  it  may  be, 
and  interesting,  but  they  are  not  essential  part 
of  Christianity,  and  cannot  "  be  required  of  any 

*  Quoted  by  Pusey,  "  What  is  of  Faith  as  to  Everlasting 
Punishment  ?"  p.  14. 


as  to  Dogma.  43 


man  that  it  should  be  believed  as  an  article  of 
the  faith,  or  be  thought  requisite  or  necessary 
to  salvation." 

Secondly,  the  Apostle  declares  that  this  de- 
liverance is  to  be  effected  by  belief,  but  a  be- 
lief of  the  heart  as  well  as  of  the  head,  and  by 
the  confessed  acceptance  of  a  Person  and  not 
of  a  doctrine.  This  crucified  Jesus  Whom  he 
preached  everywhere,  as  declared  to  be  God's 
Son  with  power  by  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead  ;  Whom  his  colleague  Simon  Peter  pro- 
claimed unto  the  house  of  Israel  as  made  by 
Jehovah  both  Lord  and  Christ  ;  Who  in  the 
presence  of  chosen  witnesses  had  ascended  into 
heaven  ;  He  it  is,  the  Apostle  writes,  Who 
saves  ;  and  he  adds  that  this  work  is  accom- 
plished by  the  making  His  life  which  He 
brought  back  from  the  grave  to  become  our 
life  by  believing  in  the  heart  in  the  reality  of 
this  risen  life. 

So  far,  as  it  seems  to  me,  all  is  simple  and 
easy  of  comprehension,  however  it  may  be  diffi- 
cult to  receive  upon  any  evidence  the  fact  that 
He  rose  from  the  dead.      But  we  would  know, 


44  Discrimination 


naturally  we  would  know  all  the  history  of  that 
wondrous  Life,  and  we  eagerly  seek  the  com- 
panionship of  the  men  who  did  hear  His  words 
and  see  His  works,  who  did  eat  and  drink  with 
Him  after  His  earthly  life  was  ended.  They 
tell  us  that  He  was  born  by  miracle,  without 
the  taint  of  our  nature's  curse.  They  tell  us, 
nay,  He  tells  us,  in  words  which  are  their  own 
authentication,  because  no  human  imagination 
could  have  conceived  them,  that  God  is  His 
own  Father,  in  other  and  closer  relation  than 
that  He  bears  to  His  sons  by  creation  ;  that 
He  lived  by  essential  existence  before  that 
Abraham  began  to  be  ;  that  His  works  are  the 
works  of  His  Father,  and  as  little  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  Moses'  law  ;  that  He  Himself 
gives  eternal  life  to  them  that  hear  His  voice 
and  follow  Him  ;  that  He  Himself  will  send  the 
Comforter  from  the  Father  ;  nay,  finally,  that 
He  and  His  Father,  that  Eternal  God,  are  One ; 
and  the  response  in  some  cases  comes  back 
from  the  angry  auditors  in  the  stones  wherewith 
they  would  kill  Him,  "  because,"  as  they  said, 
\ '  that  Thou  being  a  man  makest  Thyself  God. 


as  to  Dogma.  45 


More  than  this  :  because  He  ever  speaketh  of 
the  Comforter  Whom  He  will  send  as  a  Person, 
and  because  to  Him  are  ascribed  attributes  of 
Deity  ;  and  because,  finally,  when  the  hour  of 
His  departure  is  at  hand,  we  hear  Him  speak 
the  parting  charge  to  the  Apostles  whom  He  had 
chosen,  that  they  go  and  preach  His  Gospel  to 
all  the  nations,  and  that  they  baptize  men  into 
the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  ;  therefore  of  necessity  we  believe  what 
He  hath  plainly  spoken,  that  Jesus  is  God,  and 
that  there  are  three  Persons  in  one  God — the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Yes,  we 
believe  it,  this  whereof  we  can  form  no  con- 
ception, the  nature  of  God,  because  He  Whom 
we  have  welcomed  to  our  heart  reveals  it. 

Whatsoever  He  hath  revealed,  plainly  re- 
vealed, either  by  His  words  or  His  life,  or  by 
His  Spirit  to  be  spoken  by  the  witnesses  whom 
He  sent  to  found  and  to  govern  His  Church, 
that  we  will  receive  without  question,  that  we 
must  demand  that  all  receive  ;  for  otherwise 
vain  is  the  claim  to  believe  in  the  heart  that 
God  hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead.     But  we 


4.6  Discrimination 


are  not  bound  to  believe  any  theories  to  ex- 
plain His  redemption,  fashioned  by  ingenious 
inferences  from  the  sacred  record  ;  for  with 
reference  to  almost  its  every  detail  varying 
hypotheses  have  been  suggested,  equally  includ- 
ing the  observed  phenomena. 

To  take  but  one  example,  and  that  the 
chiefest  :  Again  and  again  while  He  taught  in 
Jerusalem  and  in  Galilee  He  foretold  to  the 
little  company  of  His  immediate  followers  the 
impending  death  that  He  must  die.  With 
ever-increasing  clearness,  as  the  time  draweth 
nigh,  He  makes  them  understand  that  He  will 
be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  that  they  will  crucify  Him,  and  that  on 
the  third  day  He  will  rise  again.  More  than 
this,  Himself  did  teach  that  He  would  draw 
all  men  unto  Himself  by  being  lifted  up,  and 
in  yet  plainer  words  that  the  Son  of  Man  came 
to  "  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many."  The 
Prophet  of  the  Wilderness,  His  forerunner  and 
herald,  had  pointed  Him  out  in  the  very  begin- 
ning of  his  public  ministry  as  "  the  Lamb  of 
God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world"  ; 


as  to  Dogma.  47 


and  His  apostles  to  whom  is  left  the  witnessing 
to  the  resurrection,  the  preaching  of  the  deliv- 
erance He  had  accomplished,  they  ever  empha- 
size this  death  as  the  procuring  cause  of  salva- 
tion. "  God  commendeth  His  love  toward  us," 
says  St.  Paul,  "  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sin- 
ners, Christ  died  for  us.  Much  more  then,  being 
justified  by  His  blood,  we  shall  be  saved  from 
wrath  through  Him.  For  if,  when  we  were 
enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the 
death  of  His  Son  ;  much  more,  being  reconciled, 
we  shall  be  saved  by  His  life.  And  not  only 
so,  but  we  also  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  we  have  now  received 
the  atonement."*  St.  John  says:  "  Herein  is 
love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  He  loved 
us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for 
our  sins."f  St.  Peter  says  :  "  For  Christ  also 
hath  once  suffered  for  sin,  the  just  for  the  un- 
just, that  He  might  bring  us  to  God."^:  Let 
these  passages  suffice  to  represent  the  apostolic 
teaching,    teaching    which     the     Church     has 

*  Romans  5  :  8-n.  f  1  John  4  :  10. 

X  1  Peter  3  :  iS. 


48  Discrimination 

echoed  in  the  words  which  she  bids  the  Priest 
to  speak  in  the  holiest  and  highest  act  of  her 
worship,  when  she  gives  all  glory  to  the 
Almighty  Father,  for  that  of  His  tender  mercy 
He  did  give  His  only  Son  Jesus  Christ  to  suffer 
death  .upon  the  cross  for  our  redemption  : 
'  Who  made  there,  by  His  one  oblation  of 
Himself  once  offered,  a  full,  perfect,  and  suffi- 
cient sacrifice,  oblation,  and  satisfaction  for 
the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 

But  has  the  Church,  then,  set  her  seal  to 
any  theory  of  the  atonement,  which  you 
and  I  and  all  her  children  must  receive  as 
part  of  the  precious  deposit  ?  Must  I  be- 
lieve a  mode  in  which  Christ  hath  brought 
me  to  God,  in  order  to  the  assurance  of  the 
adoption,  the  sonship  He  offers  me  ?  Am  I 
shut  up,  by  explicit  scriptural  statement,  or 
by  ecclesiastical  dogma  resting  thereon,  to  any 
defined  metaphysical  conception  as  to  how 
Christ  made  His  soul  an  offering  for  sin  ;  as  to 
why  it  was  necessary  that  He  be  "  crucified, 
dead,  and  buried,  to  reconcile  His  Father  to  us, 
and  to  be  a  sacrifice  not  only  for  original  guilt, 


as  to  Dogma.  49 


but  also  for  actual  sins  of  men"?*  I  thank 
God  that  the  utterances  of  holy  men  of  old, 
who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  that  the  formulas  of  the  ancient 
historic  Church,  both  doctrinal  and  devotional, 
are  all  of  such  character  that,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  men  holding  very  differing  opinions  upon 
these  points,  and  men  holding  consciously  and 
definitely  no  theory  at  all,  may  read,  mark,  and 
inwardly  digest  them  with  equal  joy  and  equal 
profit. 

I  take  my  place  in  reverent,  sorrowing 
memory  at  the  foot  of  that  cross  on  Calvary's 
hillside  ;  I  stand  in  fancy  among  those  despair- 
ing men  who  are  looking  upon  the  death-agony 
of  their  dearest  Friend  ;  I  am  close  to  the 
weeping  mother,  whose  heart  the  prophetic 
sword  is  piercing.  I  hear  the  mysterious  words 
of  the  sufferer,  His  tender  human  commend- 
ing of  His  mother  to  His  friend,  His  divine 
prayer  for  those  who  wounded  Him,  His  God- 
like assurance  of  blessedness  to  the  penitent 
transgressor  by  His  side.     At  last  there  comes 

*  "  Articles  of  Religion,"  Art.  2. 


50  Discrimination 


the  light  at  eventide,  the  resigning  His  spirit 
into  His  Father's  hands,  and  then  the  expiring 
mighty  shout  of  the  Victor,  "  It  is  finished  !" 
— and  He  is  dead.  Just  when  He  willed,  with 
perfect  control  of  the  event,  He  is  dead. 
What  does  it  mean  ?  The  sun  has  hidden  his 
face  that  he  may  not  behold  the  dreadful 
sight  ;  nature  is  shuddering,  and  the  rocks  are 
rent,  and  the  graves  are  opened.  Is  it  the 
wings  of  the  crowding  angels  who  are  hovering 
about  the  scene  which  shut  out  the  sunlight  ? 
Is  it  the  mad  rage  of  the  Prince  of  this  world 
who  beholds  his  own  defeat,  that  causeth  the 
earth  his  kingdom  to  tremble  and  be  broken  ? 
I  turn  away  with  the  wondering,  fearing  multi- 
tude, and  muse  in  my  heart  of  that  thing  which 
is  done,  and  the  question  keeps  repeating  itself, 
Ah  !  why  hath  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise 
Him? 

One  man  whom  I  meet  tells  me  that  only 
therefore  was  He  born  ;  that  the  incarnation 
was  necessary  only  to  make  possible  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  body's  blood  ;  and  another  that  this 
cruel,  bloody  death  is  only  necessary  develop- 


as  to  Dogma.  51 


ment,  a  natural  result  of  the  indwelling  of  God 
in  humanity,  that  thereby  may  be  made  to  the 
Father  the  sacrifice  of  perfect  repentance  and 
confession.  I  am  told  that  in  a  fiction  God 
hath  imputed  to  Jesus  the  guilt  of  the  race,  and 
in  corresponding  fiction  will  now  impute  His 
righteousness  to  His  brethren.  I  am  told  by 
some  that  God  the  Father  was  angry  with  His 
children,  and  that  the  agony  and  death  of  His 
own  Son  were  alone  sufficient  to  appease  His 
wrath  ;  and  yet  another  bids  me  remember  how 
the  Son  Himself  declared  that  the  Father  is 
real  Father  to  all,  and  because  He  loved  them 
sent  His  Son  to  redeem  them.  My  very  soul 
is  weary  of  their  theories.  I  can  find  difficul- 
ties, yes,  difficulties  scriptural  and  natural,  in 
all  these  theories,  and  none  of  them  is  in  any 
sense  adequate  interpretation  of  what. is  done, 
and  so  I  turn  away  to  my  solitude,  believing 
that  God  hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  be- 
lieving that  His  death  was  surely  necessary  else 
had  it  not  been  suffered  ;  believing  that  because 
of  His  life  and  death  He  has  gained  power  to 
give  me  eternal  life  ;  believing  that  God  is  my 


52  Discrimination 


Father  because  He  is  His  Father,  as  He  de- 
clared :  yes,  that  though  I  cannot  understand 
the  necessity,  or  the  manner  of  meeting  that 
necessity,  yet  that  all  is  done  that  a  Father's 
love,  a  Brother's  suffering,  a  Spirit's  influence 
can  do,  that  all  men  everywhere  may  be  saved 
from  sin  and  death  unto  holiness  and  life.  I 
will  believe  and  I  will  pray,  and  I  will  strive  to 
love  Flim  who  has  so  loved  me,  and  to  confess 
Him  with  my  mouth  and  in  my  life,  that  so  I 
may  come  at  last  to  see  Him,  and  then  shall  I 
know  all  this  whereof  now  men  take  so  much 
counsel  which  is  yet  dark,  and  darkened,  by 
words  without  knowledge. 

And  now,  to  speak  briefly  of  the  third  essen- 
tial element  in  the  salvation  by  Christ,  enunci- 
ated by  the  Apostle  in  our  text — namely,  the 
belief  of  the  heart  and  the  confession  of  the 
mouth  as  the  means  of  its  attainment.  I  beg 
you  to  note  his  expression,  "  if  thou  shalt  be- 
lieve in  thine  heart,"  which  must,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  and  as  I  have  already  more  than  once 
suggested,  signify  the  enshrining  of  the  Spirit 
of  Jesus  within  our  spirit,  that  He  may  be  the 


as  to  Dogma.  53 


fountain  source  of  our  life.  May  we  not  say, 
in  words  even  less  susceptible  of  misunder- 
standing, that  the  faith  of  the  heart  that  God 
has  raised  Him  from  the  dead  is  the  surrender 
of  our  will,  which  is  ourself,  our  very  personal- 
ity, and  the  taking  of  His  will  instead,  because 
God  hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead  ?  Now  re- 
member, the  freedom  of  our  will  is  the  very 
essence  of  our  personality,  even  as  it  is  the 
likeness  of  God  wherein  we  are  created  ;  that 
will  surrendered  and  the  will  of  another  placed 
on  the  throne  of  our  being,  our  very  personality 
is  merged  in  the  being  of  that  conqueror,  and 
the  life  we  thereafter  live  is  not  our  own,  but  is 
lived  by  faith  in  him.  True  of  any  human 
friend  or  enemy  to  whom,  from  love  or  from 
fear,  we  thus  may  yield,  'tis  true  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  saved  to  the  Saviour,  and  is  the 
very  means  whereby  their  salvation  is  effected. 
"The  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh," 
writes  St.  Paul  to  the  Galatians,  "  I  live  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God  who  loved  me  and  gave 
Himself  for  me."*     Again  and  again  we  read 

*  Gal.  2  :  20. 


54  Discrimination 


how  he  writes  to  Christians  that  they  are  ' '  in 
Jesus  Christ  ;"  and  he  says,*  '*  As  many  of  you 
as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on 
Christ"  ;  and  baptism,  St.  Peter  says,  is,  in 
its  essential  nature,  and  hence  in  its  efficient 
power  to  unite  with  Christ, f  "the  answer  of 
a  good  conscience  toward  God." 

But  necessarily  the  faith  of  the  heart  must  in- 
clude the  faith  of  the  mind,  which  is  its  found- 
ation and  warrant.  Because  we  believe  upon 
evidence  satisfactory  to  our  understanding  that 
God  has  raised  Jesus  from  the  dead,  therefore 
under  the  guidance  and  by  the  enabling  grace 
of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  we  yield  to  Him  our  will, 
and  thus  joined  to  Him  we  are  saved  by  Him. 
Mark  well  too  that  this  faith  of  the  heart  is  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  for  Jesus  Himself  de- 
clared that  "no  man  can  come  to  Me  except 
the  Father,  which  hath  sent  Me  draw  him.":}: 
But  oh,  mark  as  well  how  quick  He  was  to  add, 
"...  and  they  shall  be  all  taught  of  God. 
Every  man,  therefore  that  hath  heard,  and  hath 

*  Gal.  3  :  27.  f  1  Peter  3  :  21. 

%  John  6  :  44-  45 


as  to  Dogma.  55 


learned  of  the  Father,  cometh  unto  Me. ' '  The 
faith  of  the  heart,  the  coming  unto  Him,  is  the 
gift  of  God,  but  a  gift  freely  offered  unto  all  ; 
this  is  His  declaration,  so  that  all  are  without 
excuse. 

But  the  fact  of  Jesus*  resurrection  being  re- 
ceived by  the  mind  as  any  other  great  fact  of 
history  upon  sufficient  proof,  what  follows  as 
necessary  in  its  progress  from  the  mind  to  the 
heart,  in  its  conversion  from  an  intellectual 
conviction  to  a  spiritual  power?  The  Holy 
Ghost  is  to  be  the  Agent  to  work  the  wonderful 
transmutation  ;  therefore  let  us  beware  how  we 
limit  or  prescribe  the  mode  of  His  operation. 
As  numerous  and  varied  perhaps  as  were  the 
different  methods  of  our  Lord's  working  in  the 
days  of  His  human  life  will  be  those  of  His 
Paraclete  in  effecting  the  new  creation  of  the 
human  soul  by  its  self-surrender  to  the  risen 
Christ.  To  one,  the  full  realization  of  his  son- 
ship,  the  full  purpose  of  subjection  to  Christ, 
shall  come  as  slowly  and  as  gradually  as  came 
the  light  to  the  eyes  of  the  blind  man  at  Beth- 
saida,  who  at   the   first   touch   of  the   Master's 


56  Discrimination 


hand  saw  "  men  as  trees  walking,"  and  after  its 
repetition  "  was  restored,  and  saw  every  man 
clearly."*  Another,  aroused  by  the  Spirit  to  a 
sense  of  his  uncleanness,  of  his  impotence,  his 
curse,  shall  run  as  the  leper  did  to  fall  at  Jesus' 
feet,  crying  out  in  an  agony  of  despair,  "  Lord, 
Thou  wilt,  Thou  canst  make  me  clean  ;"f  and 
now  as  then  the  answer  shall  come  back,  "  I 
will,  be  thou  clean"  ;  and  new  hope  and  pur- 
pose and  resolve,  with  strength  to  resist  and  to 
endure,  shall  straightway  come  again  unto  him. 
To  one  the  waters  of  the  covenant  ordinance 
may  bring  the  comforting  assurance  and  be  the 
medium  of  regenerating  grace,  even  as  Siloam's 
pool  was  made  to  be  the  conduit  of  blessing  to 
him  who,  bidden, X  "went  and  washed  and  re- 
ceived sight";  while  to  another,  groping  in  the 
darkness  of  fear  and  of  doubt,  convinced  of  sin 
but  not  yet  convinced  of  the  righteousness  of 
God  in  Christ,  some  faithful  Ananias  may  be 
sent  with  message  of  help,  with  commission  to 
put  his  hands  upon  him  that  he  may  receive 

*  St.  Mark  8  :  24,  25.  f  St.  Matt.  8  :  2,  3. 

\  St.  John  9  :  ir. 


as  to  Dogma.  57 


sight.  For  this  only  I  plead,  that  we  lay  not 
as  burdens  upon  the  souls  of  men  other  than 
"  necessary  things"  ;  that  we  hinder  not  the 
confession  of  the  mouth  by  theories  of  our  own 
as  to  what  must  be  the  process  of  formation  of 
the  crystal  faith.  Does  the  man  assert  his  be- 
lief in  his  heart  that  God  has  raised  Jesus  from 
the  dead,  and  is  he  come  to  renounce  His  ene- 
mies and  to  swear  the  sacrament  of  obedient 
following  for  all  the  years  to  come  ?  Then  I 
ask  not  by  what  path  the  Holy  Ghost  has 
brought  him  to  this  state  of  salvation.  I  pry 
with  no  sharp-pointed  question  into  the  past 
experience,  lest  I  damage  and  destroy  the  ten- 
der plant  whose  seed  has  just  sprouted  in  the 
darkness  and  silence  of  its  spirit-home.  I  ask 
not  for  acceptance  of  any  theories  of  sin  or  of 
reconciliation,  nor  yet  for  promises  of  specific 
renunciation  or  performance.  There  is  not 
time  or  occasion  for  me  to  give  long  instruc- 
tion as  to  modes  of  ordinances  or  sacramental 
efficacy.  He  would  confess  with  his  mouth, 
Him  in  whom  he  has  learned  to  believe  with 
his  heart,  that  he  may  come  into  the  assured 


58  Discrimination 


state  of  salvation,  and  I  dare  not  demand  aught 
else.  By  and  by  he,  too,  as  member  of  the  Chris- 
tian host  may,  nay,  must  be,  student  of  the 
ancient  writing  and  of  the  Church's  teachings  ; 
but  before  he  puts  on  the  uniform  let  us  beware 
that  we  make  no  unauthorized  demand  of  theo- 
logical orthodoxy.  I  will  tell  him,  if  he  ask  of 
these  things,  that  concerning  them  there  is  hon- 
est difference  of  opinion  among  Christian  men  ; 
will  tell  him  that  his  opinion  is  as  free  and  un- 
constrained as  theirs  ;  above  all  will  tell  him 
that  to  know  Jesus  and  not  doctrine  about 
Jesus,  that  the  having  Him  as  tenant  of  the 
heart,  and  not  the  having  orthodox  views  about 
Him  in  the  mind,  that  this  is  eternal  life. 

One  word  more  :  How  may  I  know  the  reality 
of  the  supposed  dealing  between  Christ  and 
my  soul  ?  Surely  the  religion  of  Jesus  must 
afford  some  test  whereby  its  alleged  influences 
may  be  tried,  some  seal  of  authentication  of 
the  title  to  salvation  it  claims  to  give.  Ah  ! 
what  havoc  has  been  made  at  this  point  by  the 
contending  theories  of  the  Doctors,  and  what 
barriers  against  the  entrance  of  men  into  the 


as  to  Dogma.  59 


Church  have  been  builded  of  the  dead  bodies 
of  the  contestants  ! 

Wouldst  thou  be  assured  of  thy  salvation  ? — 
go  fall  on  thy  knees  before  the  infallible 
teacher,  guide,  Vicar  of  Christ.  His  represent- 
ative is  in  every  parish,  and  for  all  practical 
purposes  each  parish  Priest  is  to  the  penitent 
infallible.  Tell  him  thy  faith  and  thy  sin,  the 
health  thou  hopest  thou  hast,  the  disease  thou 
fearest  is  lurking  in  thy  soul  ;  he,  the  Priest, 
the  physician  of  the  soul,  will  give  thee  medi- 
cine if  needed,  or  will  guarantee  the  soundness 
if  it  be  there.  Thou  shalt  depart  in  peace  to 
thine  house  ;  for  do  not  the  Priest's  lips  keep 
knowledge? 

At  the  opposite  pole  of  the  ecclesiastical 
sphere  I  find  other  theory,  standing  sentinel, 
armed  to  completeness,  and  ready  for  battle  ; 
nor  Priest  nor  word  of  absolving  authority  will 
he  admit  to  be  possible  or  helpful.  Wouldst 
thou  be  assured  of  thy  salvation  ? — look  in  thy 
heart  and  read  the  writing  of  the  Spirit,  where- 
by He  will  witness  with  thy  spirit. 

I  thank  God,  my  brethren,  that  here  as  before 


6o  Discrimination 


the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  Church  is  manifested  ; 
and  oh  ye,  her  ministering  servants,  be  careful 
that  in  eager  pursuit  of  logical,  systematic  con- 
sistency, ye  turn  not  aside  to  the  right  hand  nor 
to  the  left,  neither  to  the  bastard  Romanism 
of  a  mock  confessional,  nor  to  the  partisan 
Protestantism  of  a  pretended  miraculous  expe- 
rience !  Our  Church  has  no  theory.  The 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ  declares  with  authority 
the  covenanted  terms  of  forgiveness,  and  when 
the  confession  of  a  true  faith  is  made  with 
seeming  honesty  he  declares  sin  forgiven  and 
new  birth  accomplished.  This  is  but  the  in- 
herent necessary  function  of  the  official  charac- 
ter. But  still  we  are  not  left  in  doubt  and  fear 
in  such  vital  matters.  The  gift  of  Christ  is  not 
only  salvation  from  sin,  but  salvation  unto 
righteousness  ;  not  merely  deliverance  from 
penalty,  but  from  power.  Thou  wouldst  know 
whether  in  very  deed  thou  hast  believed  in 
thine  heart  and  confessed  with  thy  mouth 
unto  eternal  life  ;  then  rise  up  and  walk,  in  the 
new  strength  born  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ,  in  the  path  that  He  has  ordained.     No 


as  to  Dogma. 


theory  of  absolution  is  needed  ;  the  fact  of  de- 
liverance from  sin  is  proven  by  the  fact  of  new 
life  conferred.  Yes,  to  believe  with  the  heart 
in  the  risen  Christ  ;  to  confess  Him,  His  in- 
dwelling Presence  and  government  with  mouth 
and  life,  this  is  salvation,  no  matter  for  ortho- 
doxy or  heterodoxy  of  mere  religious  opinion  ; 
no  matter  for  the  rudeness  or  the  perfection  of 
our  liturgic  forms  ;  no  matter  for  conformity 
or  disregard  of  the  arbitrary  standards  of  sup- 
posed religious  conduct.  This  St.  Paul  says  is 
eternal  life  ;  this  Reason  says  is  salvation,  for  it 
is  union  with  Him  who  is  the  Life,  Him  Who 
hath  conquered  death  and  hell,  and  over  Whom 
death  hath  no  more  dominion. 


LECTURE     II. 

Discrimination  as  to  Evidences. 


LECTURE    II. 

DISCRIMINATION   AS   TO   EVIDENCES. 

"  How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have  not 
believed  ?" — Romans  io  :  14. 

Xli  J  E  follow  the  great  reasoner  in  his  argu- 
*  *  merit  :  "  With  the  heart  man  believeth 
unto  righteousness,  and  with  the  mouth  con- 
fession is  made  unto  salvation.  .  .  .  Who- 
soever shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  saved"  ;  but  "  how,"  he  adds,  "  then 
shall  they  call  on  Him  in  whom  they  have  not 
believed  ?"  That  is,  for  what  reason,  impelled 
by  what  motive,  shall  they  appeal  for  deliver- 
ance and  salvation  to  one  of  whose  power  to 
save  they  have  not  been  convinced,  and  to 
whom,  therefore,  they  are  not  persuaded  to 
surrender  their  will  ?  The  mind  must  accept 
as  true  warrant  of  confidence  the  evidences  of 
His  claim  to  be  the  Saviour  from  sin  before 
the  heart  can  believe  to  the  attainment  of  His 


66  Discrimination 


righteousness  and  the  mouth  confess  "  unto 
salvation."  Hence  the  necessity  for  evidences 
of  Christianity  ;  and  because  the  doubts  as 
really  as  the  beliefs  of  an  age  will  take  their 
shape  and  their  expression  from  the  philosophy 
of  that  age,  hence  the  necessity  that  the  mode 
of  stating  these  evidential  arguments  shall  be 
changed  from  time  to  time  ;  and  we  may  not  be 
surprised  if  the  defence  sufficient  in  one  genera- 
tion shall  not  suffice  to  protect  against  the  new 
assault  of  its  successor. 

You  remember  the  old  story  told  by  Canon 
Liddon  in  his  Bampton  Lectures,  of  the  scep- 
tical prince  who  asked  his  Chaplain  to  give  him 
some  clear  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  ? 
The  king  had  not  much  time  to  spare  for  such 
matters,  and  would  have  the  reply  contain  but 
few  words  ;  and  the  Chaplain  tersely  answered, 
"  The  Jews,  your  Majesty." 

Can  we  make  such  response  to  patronizing 
inquirer  of  to-day,  with  good  hope  that  the 
witness  of  the  long  history  of  national  expecta- 
tion, and  of  the  still  continued  condition  of  na- 
tional isolation  and  yet  of  thorough  dispersion. 


as  to  Evidences.  6y 


shall  have  weight  to  convince  of  the  claims  of  the 
Christ  ?  True,  there  is  record  of  the  existence 
of  Messianic  hope  for  thousands  of  years,  and 
of  this  hope  symbolized  and  reinforced  by  pro- 
phetic declaration  and  by  ritual  observance  ; 
but  our  inquirer  will  object  that  our  predictions 
were  spoken  after  the  events,  or,  like  the  acts  of 
this  people's  worship,  have  been  tortured  into 
reference  to  the  Christ  who  should  come.  Point 
him  to  the  present  condition  of  the  "  chosen 
people,"  and  bid  him  see  how  it  is  as  .entirely 
separated  from  the  peoples  among  whom  it 
dwells,  as  when  in  the  day  of  its  glory  it  dwelt 
in  that  little  narrow  tract  of  country,  hedged  in 
by  mountains  and  the  sea  ;  bid  him  note  the 
unmistakable,  the  ineffaceable  characteristics  of 
countenance,  the  stain  that  will  not  disappear, 
the  indelible  brand  of  an  "  unexpiated  self- 
imprecated  guilt  ;"  *  he  will  tell  you  that  it  is 
but  a  notable  instance  of  the  "  persistency  of 
type"  ;  and,  more  than  this,  that  the  nation  is 
itself  beginning  to  dig  down  the  walls  which 
have  separated  it  from  those  among  whom  it 
*  Liddon's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  97. 


68  Discrimination 


sojourns,  because  no  longer  "  its  heart,  its 
home,  its  future  are  elsewhere"  ;  *  because  it 
no  longer  hopes  for  Him  whom  we  Christians 
have  found,  and  no  longer  "witnesses  by  its 
accumulating  despair  to  the  truth  of  the  creed 
which  it  so  doggedly  rejects."!  Prophecy, 
whether  of  Hebrew  seer  or  of  Hebrew  national 
life,  will  not  bear  the  whole  burden. 

Shall  we  then  call  our  inquirer  to  come  see  a 
man  who  must  be  the  Christ,  because,  as  the 
Pharisee  confesses,  "  no  man  can  do  these  mir- 
acles" which  He  has  done  "  except  God  be 
with  Him"  ?  Shall  I  bid  him  come  taste  the 
new-made  wine  at  the  wedding  feast  at  Cana, 
or  summon  him  to  help  the  fishermen  drag  to 
shore  the  breaking  net  into  which  Divine  Power 
has  compelled  the  crowding  multitude  of  fishes  ? 
Shall  I  give  him  place  in  the  fast-filling  ship, 
that  he  may  hear  the  words  of  the  just-awak- 
ened Jesus  rebuking  the  winds  and  the  sea  into 
calm  ?  Or  shall  he  be  called  to  shudder  at  the 
sight  of  the  demoniacs  "  coming  out  of  the 
tombs  exceeding  fierce, ' '  that  he  may  hear  their 
*  Liddon's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  97.  \  Ibid. 


as  to  Evidences.  69 

words  of  despair,  and  then  behold  them  "  cloth- 
ed, and  in  their  right  mind,"  by  the  mighty 
word  of  the  Deliverer  ?  Shall  I  command  that 
he  make  one  of  the  little  company  who  stand 
wondering  about  the  bed  where  lies  the  dead 
maiden,  and  see  how  her  spirit  comes  again 
at  the  summons  of  the  Nazarene  ;  or  that  he 
tarry  with  the  multitude  at  the  gate  of  the 
"city  called  Nain,"  when  the  prophet  stops 
the  bier,  and  gives  the  dead  boy  back  again, 
alive,  to  the  arms  of  the  widowed  mother  ? 
Our  inquirer  will  answer,  it  may  be,  that  he 
cannot  receive  as  genuine  and  authentic  record 
of  real  events  these  stories  of  wonders  wrought 
by  the  hands  of  Him  we  worship  ;  or  admitting 
most  probably,  that  the  record  is  true  in  the 
general,  he  may  deny  the  possibility  of  such 
reported  occurrences,  and  explain  their  rinding 
place  in  the  story  of  a  good  man's  life  by  the 
natural  tendency  and  desire  to  paint  such  halo 
of  glory  about  the  head  of  a  beloved  teacher  : 
the  inevitable  confounding  of  the  false  with  the 
true,  the  legendary  with  the  historical,  in  the 
earliest  records  of  a  people's  history. 


Discrin  1 1 'nation 


Let  us  assume  that  he  is  an  honest  sceptic, 
who  believes  in  God,  and  who,  like  Dr.  Car- 
penter, the  Coryphaeus  of  modern  theistic 
scepticism,  is  "  not  conscious  of  any  such 
scientific  '  prepossession  '  against  miracles  as 
would  prevent  me  [him]  from  accepting  them 
as  facts  if  trustworthy  evidence  of  their  reality 
could  be  adduced."  Let  us  assume  that  for 
him,  as  for  this  scientist,  the  "  question  is 
simply,  '  Have  we  any  adequate  historical 
ground  for  the  belief  that  such  departure  [from 
the  laws  of  nature]  has  ever  taken  place  '  "  ?  * 
Then  see  what  difficulties  present  themselves  in 
the  way  of  his  thus  being  convinced  that  Jesus  is 
the  Son  of  God,  as  the  very  initial  step  in  the 
ascent  to  his  belief  of  the  heart  unto  righteous- 
ness, and  confession  with  the  mouth  unto 
salvation. 

The  tendency  of  modern  philosophic  thought 
is  to  demand  verification  as  the  great  test  of 
truth,  because  the  whole  progress  of  human 
discovery  goes  to  show  that  only  verified  facts 
have  ever  conducted   to   valuable   knowledge. 

*  Row's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  29. 


as  to  Evidences.  Ji 

And  this  tendency,  mark  you,  will  show  itself 
in  the  habits  of  mind,  not  alone  of  the  student 
and  the  scientist,  but  just  as  plainly  in  those  of 
the  artisan  and  the  laborer,  because  they  breathe 
the  air  of  their  age,  and  are  necessarily  affected 
by  the  temper  and  tone  of  its  philosophy.  A 
priori  considerations  have  well  nigh  ceased  to 
have  any  value  in  the  determination  of  what  is 
truth,  and  the  opinion  is  everywhere,  that 
"  facts  which  can  receive  no  kind  of  verification, 
either  in  the  realities  of  the  present  or  in  the 
palpable  historical  events  of  the  past,  can  only 
be  accepted  as  true  on  an  amount  of  evidence 
which  is  practically  demonstrative."  " 

*  "  Looking  at  it  not  only  as  our  right,  but  as  our  duty,  to 
bring  the  higher  critical  enlightenment  of  the  present  day  to 
bear  upon  the  study  of  the  Gospel  records,  I  ask  whether 
both  past  and  contemporary  history  do  not  afford  such  a 
body  of  evidence  of  a  prevalent  tendency  to  exaggeration 
and  distortion,  in  the  representation  of  actual  occurrences 
in  which  '  supernatural '  agencies  are  supposed  to  have 
been  concerned,  as  entitles  us,  without  attempting  any  de- 
tailed analysis,  to  believe  that  if  we  could  know  what  really 
did  happen,  it  would  often  prove  to  be  something  very  dif- 
ferent from  what  is  narrated." 

"  The  scientific  theist,"  the  same  writer  says,    "  who  re- 


72  Discrimination 


How,  then,  shall  we  justify  to  our  inquirer 
the  claims  of  our  Master  to  his  homage,  if  those 
claims  be  made  to  rest  exclusively,  or  even 
primarily,  upon  the  basis  of  the  .physical  mira- 
cles recorded  in  the  New  Testament  ? 

It  has  been  well  pointed  out  by  Canon  Row, 
in  his  Lectures  upon  "  Christian  Evidences 
viewed  in  Relation  to  Modern  Thought"  (to 
which  work  I  would  confess  myself  most  largely 

gards  the  so-called  '  laws  of  nature  '  as  nothing  else  than 
man's  expression  of  so  much  of  the  divine  order  as  lies 
within  his  power  to  discern,  and  who  looks  at  the  uninter- 
ruptedness  of  this  order  as  the  highest  evidence  of  its  origi- 
nal perfection,  need  find  (as  it  seems  to  me)  no  abstract  diffi- 
culty in  the  conception  that  the  Author  of  nature  can,  if  He 
will,  occasionally  depart  from  it.  And  hence  as  I  deem  it 
presumptuous  to  deny  that  there  might  be  occasions  which 
in  His  wisdom  may  require  such  departure,  I  am  not  con- 
scious of  any  such  scientific  '  prepossession  '  against  mira- 
cles as  would  prevent  me  from  accepting  them  as  facts,  if 
trustworthy  evidence  of  their  reality  could  be  adduced.  The 
question  with  me,  therefore,  is  simply,  '  Have  we  any  ade- 
quate historical  ground  for  the  belief  that  such  departure  has 
ever  taken  place." — Dr.  Carpenter,  Contemporary  Revieiv, 
January,  1 876,  quoted  by  Canon  Row,  B  amp  ton  Lectures  for 
I877.A  412. 


as  to  Evidences.  73 

indebted  for  the  thoughts  I  am  to  present  in 
this  Lecture),  that  our  modern  belief  in  the  in- 
variability of  the  forces  of  the  material  universe 
and  in  the  continuity  of  nature  has  increased 
the  evidential  value  of  miracles,  "  if  we  could 
witness  them  ourselves,  or  their  occurrence 
could  be  proved  by  demonstrative  evidence." 
For  we  believe  that  only  the  power  of  the  Cre- 
ator Himself  could  interrupt  this  established 
order,  whereas  in  the  early  ages  the  belief  was 
prevalent  that  other  beings  could  interfere  with 
and  modify  it.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
difficulty  of  giving  the  satisfying  proof  to  this 
modern  demand  for  verification  is  immeasurably 
increased. 

The  men  of  to-day  will  not  accept  a  reported 
miracle — nay,  will  not  condescend  to  examine 
the  evidence  of  the  alleged  occurrence.  True 
that  a  gulf  divides  the  pretended  miraculous 
workings  of  Roman  Catholic  images  and  of 
spiritualistic  media,  from  those  ascribed  to 
Jesus  Christ  ;  and  yet  as  to  the  evidence  by 
which  their  reality  is  maintained,  that  attesting 
the  last-named  class  of  phenomena  is  unusually 


74  Discrimination 


strong  ;  and,  according  to  highest  scientific 
authority,  explanation  of  some  of  them  is  im- 
possible by  the  hypothesis  either  of  fraud  or  of 
mesmeric  influence. 

Let  us,  then,  recognize  with  all  frankness  the 
difficulty  of  an  honest  seeker  for  truth  in  our 
day,  in  receiving  the  Gospel  story  of  the  mira- 
cles of  Christ.  First,  he  must  have  a  special 
historical  training  to  fit  him  to  appreciate  the 
mass  of  historic  testimony,  complicated  and 
tedious,  by  which  the  truth  is  sustained  ;  or 
else  must  take  his  belief  at  second  hand,  against 
which  the  very  spirit  gotten  from  his  age  re- 
volts. He  is  met  by  advocates  of  the  new 
learning,  who  tell  him  that,  granting  the  record 
to  be  genuine,  and  the  witnesses,  whose  testi- 
mony is  there  written,  to  have  been  honest,  yet 
were  they  deluded,  laboring  under  mental  hal- 
lucination which  mistakes  subjective  impres- 
sions for  objective  reality,  a  phenomenon  which 
has  been  frequent  in  all  ages  of  the  world  ;  and 
bids  him  remember  that  even  good  Sir  Mat- 
thew Hale  could  condemn  a  woman  to  death 
for  witchcraft.      He  will  ask  him  how  he  can  dis- 


as  to  Evidences.  75 


tinguish  clearly  and  unmistakably,  with  such 
absolute  certainty  as  to  justify  decision  of  the 
question  as  to  ascribing  divine  honors  to  a  man, 
between  the  alleged  marvels  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament and  those  which,  resting  on  attestation 
almost  as  incontrovertible,  are  yet  rejected  as 
unrealities.  And,  Christian  men  and  women, 
Clergy  and  Laymen,  ye  who  teach  and  ye  who 
learn,  let  us  honestly  recognize  the  embarrass- 
ment of  the  honest  mind  ;  let  us  not  denounce 
him  for  his  refusal  to  accept  the  story  of  this 
natural  and  glorious  manifestation  of  the  God- 
head which  was  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ; 
rather  let  us  seek  to  find  other  pathway  by 
which  he  may  be  introduced  to  the  All-glorious 
Presence,  that  seeing  Him  he  may  recognize 
the  lineaments  of  Deity,  and  know  with  us  that 
it  is  but  natural  "  that  mighty  works  do  show 
forth  themselves  in  Him."  Yes,  let  us  learn 
the  wisdom  shown  by  the  man  who  had  follow- 
ed Jesus  from  the  place  where  John  baptized, 
to  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  who  would  bring  his 
friend  to  the  blessed  knowledge  which  he  him- 
self had   gained.     "  Philip   findeth   Nathanael, 


76  Discrimination 


and  saith  unto  him,  We  have  found  Him  of 
whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  did 
write,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph." 
How  natural  the  reply  we  hear,  what  perfect 
type  and  prophecy  of  the  answer  of  scepticism 
in  all  time  :  "  Can  there  any  good  thing 
come  out  of  Nazareth?"  Shall  the  order  of 
nature  be  violated,  and  its  continuity  broken  ? 
Shall  new  species  be  evolved  from  antecedents 
offering  no  such  prospect  ?  What  evidence  can 
suffice  to  convince  of  such  monstrous  develop- 
ment ?  And  the  answer  is  so  simple,  so  plain  : 
there  is  nor  argument  from  prophecy  accom- 
plished, nor  from  miracle  wrought  ;  there  is  no 
adducing  of  the  authority  of  person  ;  the  words 
of  witness  which  John  Baptist  spake  are  not 
rehearsed  ;  no,  "  Come  and  see"  ;  come  see 
Him  for  yourself  that  He  is  His  own  witness  ; 
that  His  words,  His  deeds,  Himself  declare 
that  He  is  the  Christ  whom  Jehovah  did  prom- 
ise. Yes,  my  friends,  here  in  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon 
earth  is  set  forth  the  divine  model  of  the  Chris- 
tian evidences,  even  that  Jesus  is  Himself  the 


as  to  Evidences.  77 


evidence  of  His  divine  origin  and  mission,  and 
that  the  showing  Him,  who  and  what  He  is,  is 
the  first,  the  chief  thing  to  do,  that  men  may 
believe  in  Him. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Christian  Church, 
when  Christian  apologists  were  contending 
against  Pagan  misbelief  and  superstitious  idol- 
atry, and  seeking  to  supplant  them  with  Chris- 
tian truth,  "with  them  the  moral  aspects  of 
Christianity  preponderate  over  the  miraculous, 
as  the  chief  means  of  winning  the  assent  of  the 
heathen  to  the  Gospel."  *  And  surely  to-day 
the  demand  for  verification,  the  latest  offspring 
of  modern  thought,  leads  us  to  the  necessary 
return  to  this  oldest  method  of  defending  and 
advocating  our  religion.  What  can  we  show 
to  men  as  capable  of  this  universal  test,  that 
seeing  they  may  believe  ?  I  answer  :  we  can 
show  them  jesus  Christ  as  the  miracle  of  mir- 
acles, for  Whose  being  and  actions  the  known 
forces  of  the  universe  are  inadequate  to  account, 
and  that  His  Presence  and   action  are  capable 

*  Row's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  32. 


yS  Discrimination 


of  verification  in  the  history  of  the  past  and  the 
facts  of  the  present. 

I.  The  influence  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  most 
palpable  fact  in  the  history  of  mankind.  It 
may,  I  think,  be  said,  without  fear  of  contra- 
diction, that  even  as  the  chronology  of  our  age 
takes  as  its  starting  point  the  supposed  year  of 
His  birth,  that  so  the  course  of  events  in  the 
development  of  mankind  morally,  and  indirect- 
ly politically,  has  received  more  modification 
from  this  cause  than  from  all  others  combined. 
Says  Mr.  Lecky,  the  infidel  historian  of 
morality  :  "  It  was  reserved  for  Christianity 
to  present  to  the  world  an  ideal  character, 
which  through  all  the  changes  of  eighteen  cen- 
turies has  filled  the  hearts  of  men  with  an  im- 
passioned love,  and  has  shown  itself  capable  of 
acting  on  all  ages,  nations,  temperaments,  and 
conditions  ;  has  not  only  been  the  highest  pat- 
tern of  virtue,  but  the  highest  incentive  to  its 
practice,  and  has  exerted  so  deep  an  influence 
that  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  simple  record 
of  three  short  years  of  active  life  has  done 
more  to  regenerate  and  to  soften  mankind  than 


as  to  Evidences.  79 

all  the  disquisitions  of  philosophers,  and  than 
all  the  exhortations  of  moralists."*  Here  is  a 
fact,  capable  of  verification,  and  verified  under 
the  inspection  of  one  unwilling  to  admit  the 
further  fact  claimed  to  be  its  only  adequate  ex- 
planation. 

II.  Again,  the  Christian  Church  is  a  fact. 
Its  presence  in  the  world  can  be  traced  without 
effort  for  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years,  as  the 
home  of  that  spiritual  influence  whose  effect  in 
the  softening  and  regenerating  of  mankind  the 
historian  finds  so  marvellous,  and  as  the  ap- 
pointed agent  for  its  diffusion.  By  undisputed 
evidence  we  can  verify  its  humble  beginnings 
in  Jerusalem,  its  gradual  establishment  in  every 
portion  of  the  great  empire,  until  at  the  end 
of  three  hundred  years  it  welcomes  the  great 
Emperor  within  its  doors,  and  the  history  of 
Christian  civilization  begins. 

III.  But,  further,  this  power  which  has  been 
so  mighty  in  the  past  that  the  infidel  must  con- 
fess "  that  the  simple  record  of  three  short  years 
of  active  life  has  done  more  to  regenerate  and 

*  Lecky,  "  History  of  Morality,*'  vol.  ii.  p.  8. 


8o  Discrimination 


to  soften  mankind  than  all  the  disquisitions  of 
philosophers,  and  than  all  the  exhortations  of 
moralists,"  is  claimed  to  be  as  active  and 
efficient  now  ;  and  this  fact  is  capable  of  veri- 
fication by  you  and  me. 

Certainly  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  the  Church 
of  Jesus,  is  still  a  present  and  potential  factor 
of  our  nineteenth-century  civilization  ;  and 
though  its  outward  form  be  different  from  that 
which  welcomed  Constantine,  in  that  the  one 
organization  of  that  day  is  now  divided  into 
many,  yet  each  and  every  part  still  claims  to  be 
builded  on  the  one  foundation,  Jesus  Christ  ; 
that  its  cause  of  being  is  the  worship  of  Christ  ; 
that  its  message  is  to  proclaim  the  redemption 
He  has  made  ;  and  that  the  blessing  it  has  to 
offer  in  His  name  is  His  regenerating  Spirit. 

More  than  this  :  some  of  the  existing  organ- 
izations are  careful  to  maintain  and  assert  their 
organic  connection,  even  in  external  order, 
with  the  historic  Church  of  the  earliest  day, 
that  by  no  possibility  they  may  lose  the  cove- 
nanted Presence  of  the  Founder  ;  while  others 
give  as  the  very  warrant  and  ground  of  their 


as  to  Evidences.  8 1 

separate  existence,  the  fact  that  by  omission  or 
commission  of  discipline,  by  slothful  neglect 
or  undue  performance  of  ritual,  by  a  veiling  of 
important  revelation,  or  by  the  assertion  of  in- 
ference as  dogma,  the  manifestation  of  Christ 
was  hindered  in  the  Church  from  which  they 
came. 

Just  as  certainly,  in  all  the  Churches  of  to- 
day are  found  men  who,  quickened  by  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  into  all-surrendering  self-devo- 
tion, and  burning  with  a  zeal  as  bright  and  as 
fierce  as  was  St.  Paul's,  have  "  counted  all 
things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  Jesus  their  Lord.'"'  You  and  I 
can  put  our  hands  on  men  who  for  the  love  of 
Christ  have  abandoned  home  and  its  delights, 
who  have  suffered  shipwreck  and  imprisonment, 
and  hunger  and  cold,  and  are  just  as  ready  as 
was  Paul  to  brave  the  mad  rage  of  a  populace 
or  the  doubtful  judgment  of  ignorant  heathen 
magistrate,  that  they  may  publish  among  the 
Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 

More  than  this  :  now  as  aforetime  there  are 
daily  added  to  the  Church  men  and  women  who 


82  Discrimination 


would  be  saved  by  this  Jesus,  in  Whom  they 
have  believed  with  the  heart,  and  through  the 
working  of  His  Spirit  there  are  wrought  trans- 
formations of  character  of  whose  reality  you 
and  I  can  testify. 

Moral  miracles  confront  the  observer  on  every 
hand,  from  the  beginning  of  our  era  until  now, 
which  must  be  just  as  plain  violation  of  the 
"  law  of  nature"  as  those  of  a  physical  char- 
acter, if  the  conclusions  of  modern  philosophy 
are  to  be  accepted,  "  that  the  forces  which  en- 
ergize in  the  moral  world  act  in  conformity  with 
moral  laws,  .  .  .  that  each  successive  stage 
of  the  moral  world  has  grown  out  of  that  which 
preceded  it,  that  its  changes  are  not  sudden 
nor  violent,  but  follow  a  law  of  gradual  evolu- 
tion." *  True  of  the  race,  it  is  true  of  the  in- 
dividual, that  the  present  is  but  the  fruit  of  the 
past,  so  long  as  only  the  inherent  forces  are  in 
action,  and  a  result  manifesting  purpose  for 
which  these  jorces  are  not  competent  is  a 
"  moral  miracle." 

I  believe,  as  has  already  been  indicated,  that 
*  Row's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  133. 


as  to  Evidences.  83 


multitudes  of  men  are  restrained  from  vice  and 
enabled  to  purity  and  morality  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Christian  spirit,  though  they  are 
not  conscious  of  this  assistance,  and  have  not 
confessed  the  Christ.  Certainly  this  must  be 
true  on  the  principle  just  stated,  that  their  life 
is  naturally  determined  by  the  atmosphere  of 
Christian  civilization  into  which  it  is  born. 
And  yet  in  what  multitude  of  cases  we  have 
seen  this  life,  despite  this  its  surrounding,  break- 
ing forth  into  excess  of  riot,  and  at  last,  regen- 
erated and  softened,  made  anew  into  the 
strength  of  holiness  by  the  conscious  accept- 
ance of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  gift  of  His  spirit. 
Miracles  !  Oh,  if  man  be  part  of  nature,  how 
shall  he  not  be  subject  to  the  inevitable  law  ? 
If  in  man  are  energizing  moral  forces,  of 
which  the  power  of  self-determination  is  one, 
how  shall  they  not  be  subject  to  moral  law, 
which  is  just  as  natural  as  physical  law  !  And 
yet  on  every  hand  to-day  we  can  behold  in 
this  moral  sphere  the  water  of  sorrow  changed 
to  the  wine  of  joy  and  gladness,  the  tempest  of 
injured  hate  calmed  into  peace  and   love,   the 


84  Discrimination 


legion  of  evil  spirits  cast  out,  the  dead  soul 
roused  from  the' bier  of  despair  and  given  back 
as  a  joy  to  the  mother  who  mourned  it,  and  all 
accomplished  by  belief  in  Jesus  Christ  ! 

Now  all  alike,  Christian  and  Infidel,  declare 
that  the  life  portrayed  in  the  Gospel  of  the 
New  Testament  is  the  fountain  and  origin  from 
which  has  flowed  this  stream  of  blessing  to 
mankind.  The  expounders  of  the  rationalistic 
philosophy  assert  that  this  is  but  an  "  airy 
nothing,"  a  picture  of  the  imagination,  a  fan- 
cied ideal  of  perfection,  on  which  rests  this  vast 
superstructure  ;  or  at  least  that  honest  adhe- 
rents of  a  good  man  have  dreamed  dreams  of 
superhuman  excellence,  and  in  blind  devotion 
believed  them  real  attributes  of  the  man  Jesus  ; 
and  that  the  thousand  thousands  of  the  best 
and  bravest  of  the  sons  of  men,  under  the  in- 
spiration of  like  deluded  confidence,  have  dared 
all  and  suffered  all  in  publishing  abroad  the 
gospel  of  this  ideal  character. 

Then  the  crucial  question  of  Christian  evi- 
dence is  reached  at  last  :  Is  the  character  of 
Jesus  Christ,  which  is  confessedly  the   creator 


as  to  Evidences.  85 


of  all  that  is  best  in  the  civilization  of  the 
world,  real  or  imaginary  ?  May  we  therefore 
continue  to  proclaim  the  message  which  nine- 
teen centuries  have  heard  in  His  name,  with 
good  hope  that  we  too  may  find  in  its  belief 
true  ground  of  hope  of  pardon  for  the  past  and 
of  help  for  the  future  ;  or  must  we,  under  the 
guidance  of  these  new  teachers,  confess  that 
our  fathers  made  their  life  journey  leaning 
upon  the  hand  of  a  phantom,  and  in  a  phan- 
tom's arms  lay  down  to  sleep  ? 

It  is  "  an  ideal  character,"  says  the  historian 
whose  statement  of  the  wondrous  effect  by  it 
produced  we  have  heard.  What  follows  ? 
First  of  all,  that  if  the  Jesus  of  the  Evangelists 
be  an  ideal  creation  and  not  an  historical 
reality,  then  a  mere  shadow  and  spectre  has 
been  the  efficient  cause  of  a  wider  blessing  than 
all  the  realities  of  earth  combined.  Well  says 
the  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  in  contemplating  this 
alternative  :  "If  this  be  so,  one  thing  is  true, 
and  one  only — that  man  is  walking  in  a  vain 
shadow,  and  disquieting  himself  in  vain.  Why, 
then,    struggle    for    truth  ?    for  delusions    are 


86  Discrimination 


mightier  than  realities.  Let  us  therefore  take 
refuge  indelusions,  for  their  influence  for  good 
has  been  greater  than  the  self-sacrifice  of  the 
wisest  and  best  of  men.  This  is  the  alternative 
which  unbelief  presents  to  us  ;  and  I  say  it  is 
an  alternative  terrible  to  contemplate.  If  so, 
all  is  vanity  ;  the  present  life  is  a  dream,  the 
life  to  come  a  blank  ;  and  man's  only  hope — 
shall  I  not  say,  his  best  hope  ? — to  be 
speedily  swallowed  up  in  that  eternal  silence 
out  of  which  he  has  come,  to  which  he  is 
hastening,  and  from  which  there  will  be  no 
awakening."  * 

But  apart  from  the  absolute  absurdity  of  our 
being  asked  to  believe  that  a  fiction  has  been 
the  controlling  power  in  the  development  of 
modern  civilization,  and  the  basis  on  which 
rests  nearly  every  institution  for  good  in  Europe 
and  in  America,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  conception  of  ideal  manhood 
being  formed  and  delineated  at  the  period  of 
the  world's  history,  and  among  the  people, 
when  and  where  it  was  confessedly  put  forth  ? 

*  Row's  Bampton  Lectures  tor  1877,  P-  IQS. 


as  to  Evidences.  %J 


More  than  this  :  what  shall  we  say  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  ideal  character  being  dramatized 
by  such  workmen,  through  three  years  of  ac- 
tivity, with  a  pervading  unity  in  the  portrayal 
which  itself  were  a  miracle  of  artistic  excellence 
in  any  age  ?  Where  and  how  did  they  learn  to 
mix  the  colors  with  which  they  have  painted 
this  image  of  such  wondrous  beauty  that  it  has 
deluded  even  its  own  creators  into  the  belief  of 
its  life,  and  has  been  the  very  central  sun  of  a 
new  moral  universe  which  its  own  action  has 
brought  into  being? 

Is  it  conceivable  that  out  of  the  material  in 
their  hands  any  man,  or  any  number  of  men 
can  have  builded  up,  even  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  character  of  a  good  and  great  man,  such 
a  conception  as  that  of  the  suffering  Redeemer, 
arrayed  in  a  morality  more  sublime  than  the 
sages  of  Greece  had  dreamed,  and  teaching  a 
religion  worthy  of  Him  whom  they  would  call 
the  Son  of  God  ?  Above  all,  of  what  existing 
matter  will  they  fashion  the  new  power  which 
shall  kindle  anew  in  the  cold  ashes  of  a  hope- 
less humanitv  the   fire  which   shall   cause  the 


Discrimination 


wheels  of  purpose  again  to  move,  and  the  effort 
after  holiness  to  be  renewed  ? 

The  day  is  past  when  any  objector  to  Chris- 
tianity will  hazard  the  charge  of  conscious 
imposture  upon  the  writers  of  the  Gospel 
story,  but  the  theories  now  promulgated,  be- 
cause not  so  plainly  clashing  with  the  phe- 
nomena the  Gospel  present,  are  beset  with 
almost  equal  difficulties  ;  and  whatever  be  the 
modifications  of  the  "  mythical  "  hypothesis, 
it  inevitably  breaks  down  in  the  effort  to  give 
adequate  explanation  of  the  portraiture  of  the 
Jesus  of  the  Evangelists,  that  positive  fact 
which  has  blessed  the  world  for  nineteen  hun- 
dred years. 

As  it  seems  to  me,  this  must  be  the  method 
of  our  Christian  defence  :  we  must  show  to  our 
countrymen  Jesus  in  His  life,  His  words,  His 
works,  His  death,  His  resurrection,  even  as 
they  are  pictured  for  us  in  the  Gospels,  and 
demand  the  explanation  of  the  existence  of  this 
portraiture  on  any  other  supposition  than  that 
of  His  historical  reality.  The  reality  of  His 
being  is  ample  and  natural  explanation  of  that 


as  to  Evidences.  89 

we  see,  of  the  Christian  Church  with  its  mani- 
fold activities  of  blessing,  and  of  the  Christian 
spirit  ever  working  with  new  creating  energy  ;' 
and  while  possibly — I  say  "  possibly"  in  its 
widest  sense — the  continuance  of  delusion  may 
explain  these  surroundings  and  events  of  our 
daily  life,  though  unlimited  credulity  must  be 
demanded  for  the  acceptance  of  such  theory, 
the  delusion  of  the  witnesses  shall  be  found 
utterly  unequal  to  the  unravelling  of  the  mys- 
tery of  the  origin  of  the  Gospel  they  have 
preached.  We  must  show  to  men  more  and 
more  of  the  superhuman  glory  plainly  visible  in 
the  Life,  the  miracle  of  miracles,  and  bid  them 
explain  it  by  the  operation  of  the  known  forces 
of  humanity  working  in  obedience  to  the  recog- 
nized laws  of  development.  Then  we  will  bid 
them  go  near  and  question  Him  of  whose  his- 
torical reality  they  are  convinced,  for  whose 
words  and  acts  and  character  their  speculations 
are  unequal  to  account,  and  they  shall  hear 
Him  claim  to  be  the  own  Son  of  the  Lord  God, 
to  possess  the  attributes  and  exercise  the  power 
of  His  Father,  and  like  the  guileless  Israelite 


90  Discrimination 


at  Cana,  they  too  who  have  sought  in  guileless 
sincerity  to  know  the  truth  shall  be  taught  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  to  cry  unto  Him,  4<  Rabbi, 
Thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  Thou  art  the  King 
of  Israel." 

Yes,  men  and  brethren,  here  is  the  battle- 
ground of  to-day,  even  close  round  about  the 
holiest  place,  wherein  the  enemy  is  boasting 
that  he  has  already  set  up  his  standard,  the 
very"  abomination  of  desolation,"  if  indeed  he 
has  proven  that  the  Jesus  of  our  Gospel  is  but 
the  ideal  which  enthusiasm  has  sublimated  from 
the  material  of  our  common  nature.  While  we 
have  our  Christ,  living  and  loving,  even  Jesus 
Who  did  live  and  labor,  and  die  and  rise  again, 
all  for  the  children  of  men  whose  nature  He 
had  assumed,  it  matters  not  that  many  doubt- 
ful questions  must  remain  unsettled,  and  even 
that  a  long  line  of  outworks,  builded,  it  may 
be,  in  the  arrogance  of  long  undisputed  posses- 
sion, have  been  of  necessity  abandoned.  Let 
it  be  that  there  are  contradictions  in  details 
made  by  the  sacred  writers  ;  let  it  be  that  there 
are    therein    problems   in   metaphysics  and   in 


as  to  Evidences. 


91 


chronology  of  which  we  can  give  no  solution  ; 
we  still  have  a  God  to  worship,  manifested  unto 
us,  and  Who  calls  us  by  His  Spirit;  we  are  not 
without  hope  or  without  God  in  the  world. 

It  will  not  be  expected  that  I  shall  do  more 
than  suggest  this  necessary  change  in  the 
formation  of  our  battle  array.  A  volume  and 
not  a  lecture  were  necessary  for  even  the  out- 
line of  this  defence  ;  and  the  volumes  have 
been  written,  for  ' '  the  Church  hath  her  doctors' ' 
now  as  in  the  old  time,  who,  in  the  learned 
leisure  of  Abbey  and  Cathedral  close,  have  noted 
the  drift  of  the  shifting  stream  of  assault,  and 
have  reconstructed  the  old  barricades  to  resist 
it.  I  may  be  permitted,  however,  to  illustrate 
what  I  have  been  saying  of  the  difficulties  un- 
der which  any  and  all  the  mythic  theories  labor 
in  their  attempted  comprehension  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  evangelic  record. 

Manifestly  the  mythologists,  numerous  as 
they  are  supposed  to  have  been,  to  whose 
widely  separated  and  independent  yet  united 
efforts  our  Gospel  pictures  of  the  Christ  is  to 
be  ascribed,  must  have  started  from  the  point 


92  Discrimination 


of  the  ideas  and  feelings,  moral  and  religious, 
possessed  by  the  Hebrew  people  at  the  time 
this  development  of  them  was  effected.  Agree- 
ably to  the  assumption  that  the  character  of 
Jesus  is  but  "  a  body  of  idealized  conceptions 
which  have  been  created  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
His  followers, "  *  that  it  is  entirely  explained 
by  the  normal  operation  of  the  normal  powers 
of  man,  there  must  be  germ  in  the  received 
opinions  and  feelings  of  their  age  which  is  pos- 
sible of  development  into  this  fairest  product 
of  our  race. 

Nuw,  grant  that  the  men  of  the  first  century 
of  our  era  had  learned  from  the  Book  of  Enoch 
that  the  Christ  whom  Jehovah  had  promised  is 
to  unite  in  His  Person  the  divine  and  the 
human,  yet  the  difficulty  remains — difficulty 
made  more  insuperable  by  the  very  training 
they  have  received  under  the  dispensation  of 
Moses  and  the  prophets — how  to  represent  in 
action  this  complex  Being. 

The  author  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  gives  no 
hint  how  to   work    out    in    detail    the  outline 

*  Row's  "  Jesus  of  the  Evangelists,"  p.  6. 


as  to  Evidences.  93 

which  he  has  suggested,  and  the  Jesus  of  our 
Gospels  is  separated  by  a  great  gulf  from  the 
Christ  of  his  conception.  More  than  this  :  as 
I  have  said,  every  indication  to  be  gotten  from 
their  Old  Testament  Scriptures  is  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  such  union,  for  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah 
dwelling  in  man  is  ever  represented  as  totally 
distinct  from  him  whom  He  inspires  ;  and  yet, 
marvel  of  marvels,  the  "  idealized  conceptions" 
of  all  these  enthusiastic  followers  are  formed  in 
one  mould,  and  the  God-man  of  the  Gospels  is 
a  character  pervaded  by  an  absolute  unity. 
There  is  never  a  clash  or  an  inconsistency. 
The  divine-human  consciousness  is  portrayed 
"  with  an  absolute  uniformity  of  aspect  through- 
out the  whole  extent  of  the  Gospels,"* though 
confessedly  the  portrayal  is  by  four  different 
hands,  and  the  unbeliever  says,  by  a  great  num- 
ber. With  one  accord  they  represent  Him- as 
communing  in  perfect  repose  with  the  God 
whom  He  calls  His  own  Father  ;  as  all  un- 
conscious of  any  illumination  from  without, 
which  was  the  highest  claim  of  the  old-time 
*  Row's  "  Jesus  of  the  Evangelists,"  p.  19. 


94  Discrimination 


prophet  ;  as  never  once  speaking,  "  Thus  saith 
the  Lord, "  but  always,  "  /say  unto  you"  ;  and 
with  as  perfect  accord  they  ascribe  to  Him  the 
very  perfection  of  humanity  in  the  methods  of 
His  approach  to  men.  '  The  divine  light  has 
been  enshrined  by  the  mythologists  in  a  purely 
human  temple." 

As  in  His  words,  so  in  His  acts,  there  is  this 
calmest  repose  of  divine  majesty  environed  by 
the  intensest  humanity  ;  in  word  and  act  alike 
there  is  the  union  of  unlimited  self-assertion 
and  self-abnegation  as  complete  :  never  once 
appealing  for  sanction  of  His  word  to  the 
authority  of  God,  never  once  ascribing  the 
miraculous  work  to  the  power  of  His  Father  ; 
and  yet  the  asserted  authors  of  these  pretty 
stories  to  glorify  the  memory  of  a  good  man 
must  have  remembered  that  for  just  this  failure 
"  to  give  God  the  praise,"  Moses  their  father 
was  excluded  from  the  Land  of  Promise.  Is  it 
conceivable  that  with  no  other  suggestions  than 
these,  any  genius,  any  enthusiasm  of  one  or  of 
many  can  have  fashioned  such  a  character  ? 

If  we  look  for  a  moment  at  the  moral  teach- 


as  to  Evidences. 


95 


ing  they  have  put  in  His  mouth,  the  question, 
where  have  they  learned  it,  can  find  no  an- 
swer. Will  the  concession  to  Jesus  of  the 
loftiest  genius  adequately  explain  its  origin  ? 
History  proves  that  "  no  human  being,  how- 
ever exalted  may  have  been  his  genius,  has 
been  able  wholly  to  emancipate  himself  from 
the  conditions  imposed  on  him  by  his  birth, 
and  the  moral  and  spiritual  atmosphere  in 
which  he  was  educated."  * 

What  were  the  conditions  and  atmosphere  in 
which  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  His  followers 
were  born  ?  They  were  the  members  of  an 
arrogant,  exclusive  race,  which  at  this  particu- 
lar period  was  become  to  the  last  degree  fanat- 
ical and  superstitious.  This  is  so  indisputably 
true  that,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  J.  Stuart  Mill, 
it  is  simply  incredible  that  the  discourses  at- 
tributed to  Him  can  have  been  invented  by  the 
Evangelists,  or  even  by  the  Apostle  Paul. 
Whence,  then,  this  wisdom  to  the  carpenter's 
son  of  Nazareth — this  wisdom  which  has  re~ 
modelled  the  ethics  of  the  world — nay,  has 
*  Row's  Bampton  Lectures  for  1877,  p.  134. 


g6  'Discrimination 


built  up  new  system  for  which  before  Him  no 
foundation  had  been  laid  ?  Yes,  I  say,  built 
up  new  system,  though  it  be  at  the  same  time 
gratefully  confessed  that  the  human  reason  is 
equal  to  the  discovery  of  moral  truth  ;  and 
more  than  this,  that  moral  precepts  of  highest 
elevation  are  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the 
ancient  heathen  authors,  albeit  Mr.  Buckle's 
sneering  assertion  that  Jesus'  system  is  not 
original  rests  upon  but  three  of  such  quotations, 
and  although  historic  criticism  almost  demon- 
strates the  fact  that  neither  Jesus  Christ  nor 
any  one  of  the  possible  mythologists  can  have 
had  acquaintance  with  these  ancient  writings. 

What  are  the  characteristics  of  the  moral 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  which  distinguish  it 
from  that  of  all  who  have  preceded  or  followed 
Him  ?  I  answer  that  it  is  the  proclamation  of 
principles  to  be  the  foundation  of  all  moral 
duty,  as  wide  as  the  world,  as  universal  as  hu- 
manity ;  and  secondly,  that  He  reveals  the 
power  of  faith,  faith  in  a  Person  as  the  renova- 
tor of  the  moral  nature  by  making  obedience 
to  the  moral  law  a  possibility.      Where  did  the   ' 


as  to  Evidences.  97 


carpenter's  son,  who  has  sat  at  the  feet  of  no 
teacher,  who  among  the  teachers  of  his  nation 
could  have  heard  no  idea  of  duty  as  wider  than 
from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  and  could  have  heard 
of  the  power  of  faith  from  none  that  lived  on 
earth,  oh,  where  can  he  have  learned  this  wis- 
dom which  has  made  the  world  wise,  this 
strength  which  lias  strengthened  our  race  ? 

We  read  on  in  the  story  of  this  mysterious 
Being,  of  matchless  words  and  miraculous  deeds 
for  which  some  explanation  must  be  given,  and 
we  reach  at  last  the  catastrophe.  The  good 
man,  after  supping  with  His  friends  on  the  oc- 
casion of  an  ancestral  national  festival,  begins 
to  be  exceeding  sorrowful,  and  to  speak  words 
which  His  companions  cannot  fail  to  understand 
as  betokening  the  apprehension  of  impending 
disaster.  One  of  the  little  company  has  by 
Him  been  charged  with  treachery,  and  has  gone 
at  His  bidding  to  complete  the  detected  be- 
trayal. With  a  tenderness  which  is  exquisite. 
Jesus  speaks  words  of  comforting  promise  to 
these  sorrowing  ones  ;  talks  to  them  of  the 
glory  which  shall  at  last  be  the  victor's  reward, 


98  Discrimination 


though  now  He  must  be  wounded  and  die,  and 
that  glory  He  says  His  friends  shall  share. 
Like  a  menial  servant  he  washes  the  feet  of 
these  wondesing  disciples,  to  teach  them  their 
highest  glory  in  being  ministering  servants  to 
the  universal  brotherhood.  Then  He  goes 
away  to  the  solitude  of  a  garden,  and  alone 
wrestles  in  an  agony  of  prayer,  while  those 
whom  He  has  asked  to  watch  with  Him  are 
asleep  in  indifference.  Suddenly  the  silence  of 
the  night  is  startled  by  the  shouts  of  a  multi- 
tude, and  its  darkness  illumined  by  the  flam- 
ing torches  which  they  bear.  The  good  man 
advances  to  meet  them,  and  asks  for  whom  they 
are  thus  seeking.  They  tell  Him,  "  Jesus  of 
Nazareth."  "Jesus  saith  unto  them,  I  am 
He.  .  .  .  As  soon  then  as  He  had  said 
unto  them  I  am  He,  they  went  backward  and 
fell  to  the  ground." 

He  is  quickly  seized  and  bound  and  led  away 
to  the  palace  of  the  high  priest,  where  exam- 
ination is  to  be  held.  The  night  passes  away 
amid  the  jeers  of  the  brutal  soldiery,  who  be- 
guile the   hours   with   mocking   sport   of  their 


as  to  Evidences.  99 


prisoner.  The  morning  dawns,  and  He  is  led 
away  to  Pilate  the  governor,  who  alone  can 
give  sentence  of  death.  The  prisoner  stands 
in  dignified  silence.  He  knows  that  defence  is 
vain.  He  will  answer  never  a  word  to  the  Gov- 
ernor's questions.  He  is  fulfilling,  as  He  said, 
the  decrees  of  His  Father,  and  in  His  Provi- 
dence He  will  trust.  The  coward  condemna- 
tion quickly  follows,  and  the  good  man  toils 
away  to  Calvary,  staggering  under  the  burden 
of  the  cross  ;  but  even  in  that  extremity  He  can 
speak  words  of  consolation  and  of  warning  to 
the  women  of  Jerusalem.  The  nails  are  fast- 
ened through  the  quivering  flesh,  and  the  cross 
is  uplifted.  Three  awful  hours  pass  by  ere  the 
end  comes.  Again  and  again  the  Sufferer 
speaks  :  with  the  calmness  of  absolute  self-con- 
fidence He  gives  assurance  of  salvation  to  the 
robber  hanging  by  His  side,  and  with  the 
thoughtful  tenderness  of  human  affection  com- 
mends His  mother  to  the  care  of  His  friend. 
He  remembers  to  speak  sublimest  prayer  for 
the  pardon  of  the  ignorant  perpetrators  of  the 
death  He  is  dying,  and  even  to  effect  fulfilment 


ioo  Discrimination 


of  the  least  predicted  detail  of  the  transaction  ; 
and  then,  with  perfect  control  of  the  event, 
having  commended  His  spirit  into  the  hands  of 
His  Father,  He  bowed  His  head  and  died. 

Men  and  brethren,  there  is  no  dispute  as  to 
the  reality  of  the  death  by  crucifixion  of  one 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  at  Jerusalem  under  the  reign 
of  Pontius  Pilate  ;  but  come  and  see,  is  not  this 
the  description  of  the  death  of  a  superhuman 
Being  ?  And  yet  what  difficulties  the  dreamers 
of  such  splendid  vision  have  overcome  in  its 
depicting  ! 

Remember,  we  saw  that  their  effort  was  to 
idealize  the  character  of  a  good  and  great  man 
into  the  conception,  possibly  suggested  by  the 
Book  of  Enoch,  of  a  Christ  in  Whom  the  divine 
and  the  human  shall  be  united.  Their  powers 
shall  be  put  to  fullest  test,  now  that  they 
come  to  portray  the  death  of  such  a  Being, 
although  there  is  no  suggestion  of  the  death 
of  that  divine-human  Christ  in  the  writing 
where  they  learned  His  nature,  and  the 
apocalypse  of  Esdras,  which  tells  that  Messiah 
was  to  die,  is  of  questionable  antiquity.      But 


as  to  Evidences.  101 


Jesus  did  die,  and  having  ascribed  to  Him  the 
attribute  of  Christhood,  they  must  portray  Him 
in  the  hour  of  death.  Bold  men  they  must 
have  been,  these  fishermen,  story-tellers  of  the 
world's  childhood,  who  set  themselves  to  the 
performance  of  this  task.  Did  they  know  the 
Greek  poet's  story  of  the  rock-bound  hero,  the 
son  of  a  god,  yet  of  woman  born,  and  from 
that  learn  to  picture  the  suffering  Christ  ?  Ah, 
wonderful  as  is  the  creation  of  yEschylus,  who 
would  venture  to  compare  it  with  that  of  these 
ignorant  legend-mongers  who  have  given  us 
our  dying  Redeemer  ?  See,  my  friends,  the 
enthusiasts  must  all  agree  in  the  difficulties  to 
be  encountered  and  in  the  methods  by  which 
they  shall  be  overcome  ;  for  they  have  been 
overcome,  and  in  the  Gospel  narrative  is  ex- 
hibited a  death  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  life 
gone  before,  a  unity  unbroken  in  the  least  par- 
ticular. The  God-man  is  to  die,  take  care  that 
the  divine  is  not  hidden  in  the  sufferings  of  the 
human  ;  take  equal  care  that  it  lend  not  undue 
support  to  the  human  sufferer.  More  than 
this  :  remember  that  the  life  is  to  be  voluntarily 


102  Discrimination 


surrendered  in  self-sacrificing  love,  and  that, 
fore- determined  of  God,  it  must  be  accomplish- 
ed by  the  agency  of  self-determining  man.  And 
yet  see  how  perfectly  the  work  is  done  !  What 
artist  of  to-day  would  dare  add  a  single  touch 
in  .  hope  to  heighten  the  effect  produced  ? 
Here,  as  in  all  the  life,  there  is  the  calmness  of 
conscious  divine  power  united  to  the  tender- 
ness of  human  affection.  Uninterrupted  self- 
consciousness  is  united  with  utter  forgetfulness 
of  self.  The  presence  of  the  traitor  disturbs 
him,  for  He  is  a  man,  but  it  is  the  voice  of  a 
God  which  commands  his  departure.  In  the 
garden,  while  the  divine  will  is  in  perfect  accord 
with  the  will  of  His  Father,  there  is  the  strug- 
gle, the  wrestling  agony,  even  to  the  point  of 
bloody  sweat,  that  the  shrinking  human  will 
may  come  into  like  conformity  ;  and  through 
the  humble  self-surrender  of  the  man  shines 
the  majesty  of  a  God,  and  the  soldiers  go  back- 
ward and  fall  to  the  ground.  The  cross' 
weight  cannot  crush  the  love  for  the  race  to 
which  He  belongs,  and  is  come  to  redeem  ;  nor 
the  painful  crucifixion  of  the   flesh   so   engross 


as  to  Evidences.  103 


the  mind's  thought  that  he  speak  not  pardon 
and  prayer.  , 

Men  and  brethren,  it  is  simply  inconceivable 
that  this  wonderful  creation  "  was  effected  by 
spontaneous  elaboration  of  mythic  stories  in 
the  original  Christian  society,  for  the  purpose 
of  investing  a  human  Jesus  with  the  attributes 
of  a  divine  Christ."  Nay,  reason  demands 
rather  that  the  beholder  to-day,  as  the  centu- 
rion who  stood  wondering  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross  to  which  he  had  nailed  the  condemned 
criminal,  shall  cry  out,  "Truly  this  man  was 
the  Son  of  God." 

But  can  I  believe,  and  ask  others  to  believe 
that  this  crucified  Jesus  did  rise  again  from  the 
dead  ?  Certainly,  if  Christ  be  not  risen  our 
preaching  and  our  faith  are  vain  ;  certainly, 
the  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  the  very 
corner-stone  of  the  edifice  of  salvation,  the 
crowning  proof  of  His  divine  mission,  and  of 
His  power  to  save.  The  Apostle,  remember, 
makes  demand  for  this— this  chief,  I  had  almost 
said  this  only— as  article  of  faith:  "If  thou 
shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised 


1 04  Discrimination 


Him  from  the  dead."  Can  I  so  believe? 
Grant  that  He  was  superhuman,  that  He  was 
morally  all  that  in  the  Gospel  narrative  is  de- 
clared, because  to  believe  a  reality  as  the  orig- 
inal of  this  representation  is  easiest  explanation 
of  the  phenomena.  Still,  can  I  believe  that  he 
did  literally  come  back  alive  from  the  grave  ? 
I  answer  that  to  my  mind  it  is  natural  that 
Jesus  shall  rise  from  the  dead  as  He  foretold 
He  would  do,  even  as  it  is  natural  that  disease 
and  demon  and.  death  shall  be  subject  to  His 
word,  because  He  was  what  He  was.  Yet,  be 
it  understood  that  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
stands  on  another  plane  than  that  of  the  other 
New  Testament  miracles,  as  to  evidential  value, 
and  so  also  as  to  the  evidence  by  which  it  is 
assured.  That  one  fact  made  secure,  then  all 
the  rest  are  easy  of  proof — nay,  need  no  proof  : 
they  are  the  natural  workings  of  Him  who  is 
"  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  with  power 
by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead."  And, 
blessed  be  God  that  there  is,  as  I  believe,  morel 
evidence  for  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  than  for  any  other  event  in  the  history 


as  to  Evidences.  105 


of  mankind  !  I  must  tarry  for  a  moment  to 
suggest  to  you,  though  it  must  be  in  baldest 
outline,  the  strength  of  that  guarantee  as  it 
presents  itself  to  me. 

The  examination  of  the  Pauline  epistles,  of 
which  the  historical  character  is  undisputed, 
will  give  as  necessary  results — 

1.  That  within  a  period  of  thirty  years  from 
the  date  of  the  crucifixion,  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  was  accepted  as  a  fact  by  every 
section  of  the  Christian  Church. 

2.  That  the  fact  was  accepted  as  the  only 
foundation  on  which  the  Church  was  builded, 
as  the  very  life  of  this  system  of  religion,  the 
source  of  its  moral  and  spiritual  power,  and 
the  pledge  of  its  promised  gift  of  blessed- 
ness. 

3.  That  immediately  after  the  crucifixion  the 
Church  was  reconstituted  on  the  basis  of  this 
belief.  Mark  you,  Paul,  the  man  who  bears 
this  testimony,  was  an  agent  to  destroy  this 
"  pernicious  superstition,"  and  must  as  such 
have  had  every  opportunity  for  investigating  its 
origin.      His  testimony  excludes  the  interval  of 


o6  Disc?-  im  ination 


time  necessary  for  this  consolidation  of  an  idle 
story,  by  distance  and  time,  into  an  accepted 
fact. 

4.  That  Jesus  Christ  was  believed  by  the 
whole  Church  to  have  been  seen  alive  after  His 
death  and  burial  by  a  great  number  of  people, 
singly  and  in  companies,  last  of  all  by  this 
Apostle-writer  himself  ;  and  finally,  that  this 
belief  was  from  the  very  beginning//^ power  of 
spiritual  regeneration. 

There  is  but  one  hypothesis,  other  than  that 
of  the  reality  of  the  event,  which  can  afford 
explanation  of  this  condition  of  affairs,  and  that 
is,  that  this  belief  originated  in  mental  delusion, 
for  no  theory  of  mythical  or  legendary  growth, 
of  gradual  evolution,  will  comprehend  these 
admitted  phenomena,  while  the  difficulties  at- 
tending the  work  of  mythological  dramatist, 
great  before,  here  become  simply  insuperable  ; 
and  the  burden  is  on  the  unbeliever  to  give 
adequate  account  of  the  cause  which  has  pro- 
duced and  does  to-day  produce  the  mighty  mir- 
acles in  the  spiritual  sphere  which  we  see  and 
hear.     Will  the  supposition  above  mentioned, 


as  to  Evidences.  107 

of  mental  hallucination,  give  the  relief  we  seek  ? 
Let  us  ask  it  two  or  three  questions. 

1.  Were  those  despairing  disciples  who  went 
weeping  from  the  grave  where  they  had  laid 
Him,  in  such  condition  of  mind  as  to  be  by  a 
woman's  story  kindled  into  such  enthusiasm  as 
to  see  visions  of  the  risen  Master,  "  and  on  the 
strength  of  such  a  delusion  to  found  an  institu- 
tion which  has  stood  the  test  of  eighteen  cen- 
turies" ?*  Was  like  enthusiastic  delirium  im- 
parted to  a  great  number  of  believers,  so  that 
they  not  only  saw  Him  and  heard  Him  speak, 
but  derived  from  His  words  specific  teaching, 
which  led  to  remodelling  of  the  Church,  already 
begun  in  His  lifetime? 

2.  Were  the  three  principles  of  Preposses- 
sion, Fixed  Idea,  and  Expectancy,  in  such 
active  operation  in  the  minds  of  the  disciples 
as  to  have  impelled  these  disappointed,  despair- 
ing followers  to  mistake  their  visions  for  ex- 
ternal realities  ? 

3.  A  man  brought  up  in  all  the  learning  of 
his  nation,  "  exceeding  zealous  for  the  traditions 

*  Row's  Bampton  Lectures  for  1877,  p.  362. 


108  Discrimination 

of  his  fathers, "  which  traditions  this  reported 
resurrection  utterly  destroys  ;  a  trusted  agent  of 
the  Authority  which  would  prevent  the  spread- 
ing of  this  delusion,  journeys  to  a  strange  city, 
seeking  there  his  recreant  countrymen  who  have 
accepted  the  new  faith.  He  says  that  he  met 
the  risen  Jesus  in  the  way  ;  he  says  that  He 
talked  with  Him,  and  as  the  result  of  this  be- 
lief, he  abandons  his  career  at  Jerusalem,  and 
devotes  a  long  life,  despite  suffering  and  perse- 
cution of  every  description,  to  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  abounding  blessing  for  men  offered 
by  this  ascended  Christ.  Let  philosophy 
rationally  explain  these  indisputable  facts  on 
the  ground  of  mental  hallucination. 

I  said  that  here  must  be  our  battle-ground, 
for  all  depends  upon  its  holding.  Christianity 
does,  by  its  own  declarations,  stand  or  fall  with 
the  reality  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  while  we  are  content  to  maintain  this  line 
our  success  is  guaranteed.  Our  enemies  would 
gladly  divert  us  to  the  defence  of  what  are  but 
outposts,  if  indeed  they  be  in  any  sense  true 
points  of  the  Christian  position  ;  and  in  gen- 


as  to  Evidences.  109 


eral,  the  forays  successful  in  our  time,  whose 
result  has  been  to  bring  dismay  to  the  fearful 
believer,  have  been  directed  upon  some  theory 
or  inference  a  long  way  distant  from  this  our 
citadel,  but  which,  alas  !  some  of  us  have  been 
taught  to  believe  to  be  essential  to  the  integrity 
of  the  Christian's  hope.  Nay,  here  we  will  stand. 

Here,  then,  is  the  record  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  Christ,  whose  existence  no  theory  has 
been  equal  to  explain  ;  a  part  of  that  record, 
a  natural  feature  of  that  life,  is  His  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  which  is  so  guaranteed  as  to 
defy  the  assaults  of  unbelief  ;  here  is  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  and  its  child,  Christian  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  here  are  the  marvels  of  renewal 
wrought  day  by  day,  verifiable  and  verified,  ac- 
complished by  the  faith  of  the  heart  in  the  res- 
urrection of  its  Lord.  These  are  the  sureties 
of  our  hope,  and  all  else  we  believe,  if  at  all, 
only  because  of  necessary  connection  with,  and 
dependence  upon,  them. 

For  example,  Jesus  Christ  declares  that  the 
Old  Testament  writings  do  testify  of  Him,  and 
His  Apostle  by  His  Spirit  ascribes  the  utter- 


1 10  Discrimination 


ances  of  these  "  holy  men  of  old  "  to  the  mov- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Therefore  to  me  these 
writings  are  of  authority  as  containing  the 
Father's  testimony  to  the  Son  who  should 
come,  and  are  a  helpful  addition  to  the  evi- 
dences of  the  Christ  because  they  are  the  ac- 
count of  a  natural  preparation  of  that  which 
should  be  done. 

The  other  miraculous  stories  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  confessedly  stand  on  differ- 
ent ground  from  that  of  the  resurrection,  wc 
believe  because  they  are  reported  of  Him  of 
Whom  they  are  the  natural  outgoing  ;  nay,  the 
record  itself  which  contains  them  we  believe, 
because  it  enfolds  Him  who  must  be  true.  I 
go  near  and  ask  Him  who  He  is,  and  I  hear 
Him  say  so  plainly  that  He  and  His  Father  are 
One,  that  He  is  from  eternity,  that  His  are  the 
attributes  of  God.  I  see  that  this  is  the  under- 
standing of  His  words  by  those  to  whom  He 
speaks,  and  that  their  threatening  words  and 
stones  can  evoke  no  syllable  of  denial  or  of  con- 
cession, and  therefore,  with  the  Apostle,  I  bow 
my    head    and    worship  Him,    rejoicing   that 


as  to  Evidences.  1 1 


through  Him  we  have  access  by  one  Spirit  unto 
the  Father.  But  theories  of  incarnation,  of 
atonement,  of  inspiration-  -these  are  but  the 
works,  the  necessarily  imperfect  works,  of 
human  hands.  Christianity  does  not  stand  or 
fall  with  any  one  of  them,  and  I  will  offer  to 
my  countrymen  facts  and  not  theories.  I  will 
even  take  away  from  their  consideration  these 
things  which  are  shaken,  that  the  "  things 
which  cannot  be  shaken  may  remain." 

This  leads  me  to  remark,  in  conclusion,  that 
perhaps  the  larger  part  of  the  harassing  doubts 
by  which  believers  are  distressed,  and  of  the 
obstacles  by  which  honest  inquirers  are  kept 
away  from  confession  and  assured  hope,  are 
due  to  their  entanglement  in  the  meshes  of 
some  theory  of  inspiration.  And  here  I  must 
again  express  my  joyful  thanksgiving  that  wTe 
at  least,  the  children  of  this  ancient  historic 
Church,  are  not  burdened  in  mind  or  con- 
science by  the  necessary  acceptance  of  any 
theory.  Whereas  the  candidate  for  ordination 
is  required  to  subscribe  a  formula  in  the  words, 
"  I  do  believe  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old 


Discrimination 


and  New  Testaments- to  be  the  word  of  God," 
yet  the  interpretation  of  the  object  of  that  for- 
mula in  the  fuller  statement  of  the  Article  is,  that 
"  Holy  Scripture  containeth  all  things  necessary 
to  salvation."  And  therefore  the  man  who  pre- 
fers to  express  his  conviction  as  to  the  Revela- 
tion in  the  words  that  "  the  Bible  contains  the 
word  of  God,"  rather  than  "  is"  the  word  of 
God,  is  not  hindered,  as  it  seems  to  me,  from 
so  doing,  by  the  Standards  of  this  Church. 

And  yet,  alas  !  how  has  our  ecclesiastical 
atmosphere  in  years  past  been  stirred  into  tem- 
pest by  the  blasts  of  controversy  upon  this 
point,  and  our  ears  been  weary  with  the  denun- 
ciations of  "  unsoundness"  against  those  who 
in  this  particular  seemed  to  dissent  from  the 
theory  of  the  self-styled  orthodox,  who  on  a 
priori  grounds  demand  the  belief  that  "  every 
word,  thought,  conception,  and  expression  in  the 
:  Scriptures  is  the  absolute  dictation  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  and  that  the  writers  of  the  different 
books  in  the  Bible  have  merely  copied  down 
what  the  Divine  Spirit  dictated  to  them"  !* 
*  Row's  "  Inspiration,  its  Nature  and  Extent,"  p.  15. 


as  to  Evidences.  1 1 3 

Their  opponents,  glorying  as  proudly  in  their 
heterodoxy,  and  publishing  from  the  housetops 
their  belief,  just  as  entirely  a  priori,  of  the  ab- 
sence of  all  other  than  human  element  in  the 
record,  have  laughed  to  scorn  the  slavish 
puerility  of  the  Book-worshippers,  and  made 
merry  over  the  absurdities  resulting  from  their 
system.  Alas  !  while  the  contestants  have  re- 
joiced in  their  struggle,  the  ignorant  and  the 
weak  have  sorrowed  lest  their  hope  was  being 
taken  away,  and  the  unbeliever  has  found  new 
occasion  in  the  doubtful  issue,  for  putting  away 
the  consideration  of  his  duty.  Oh,  let  us  learn, 
and  let  us  declare  boldly,  to  the  clearing  away 
of  many  hazy  doubts  and  the  strengthening  of 
many  trembling  souls,  that  "  if  the  attestation 
to  any  revelation  that  it  is  of  divine  origin  is 
sufficient,  our  belief  that  it  is  such  a  revelation 
in  no  way  depends  on  our  views  as  to  the  na- 
ture and  extent  of  the  inspiration  under  the 
influence  of  which  it  has  been  communicated. ' '  * 
We  believe  that  our  Bible  is  a  record  of  a 
revelation  from  our  God,  because  of  the  suffi- 

*  Row's  "  Inspiration,  its  Nature  and  Extent,"  p.  33. 


1 1 4  Discrimination 


cient  evidence  accrediting  it  as  such  ;  but  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  inspiration  vouchsafed  to  the 
several  writers  ;  as  to  the  proportion  of  the  ele- 
ments, human  and  divine,  which  go  to  its  mak- 
ing ;  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  divine  con- 
trol has  been  exercised  over  the  human  agent, 
we  believe,  as  of  necessity,  nothing,  because  no 
revelation  upon  that  matter  has  been  given. 
Certainly,  the  writers  of  Scripture  claim 
"  plenary  inspiration";  it  follows  as  of  neces- 
sity, from  the  fact  that  if  it  is  a  revelation 
from  God  He  will  give  plenary  power  for  the 
doing  of  that  which  He  wills  to  be  done. 
Nothing  can  be  gained  by  the  use  of  this  word, 
for  to  determine  its  value  in  any  case  we  must 
first  determine  the  will  of  the  Revealer,  which 
is  not  possible. 

Turn  to  the  New  Testament  itself,  and  we 
read  that  "  God,  who  at  sundry  times  and  in 
divers  manners  spake  in  times  past  unto  the 
fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  these  last  days 
spoken  unto  us  by  His  Son" — nay,  rather,  in 
His  Son.  The  revelation  of  God  is  the  Person 
of  Jesus  Christ. 


as  to  Evidences. 


We  read  that  Jesus,  when  He  had  lived  the 
life  of  manifestation,  departing,  said  to  the 
Apostles  whom  He  had  chosen  :  "  Ye  shall  be 
witnesses  unto  me."  But  a  few  days  after  His 
ascension  we  read  of  the  action  of  the  remain- 
ing Apostles  in  filling  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
treachery  and  death  of  Judas,  and  capacity  to 
bear  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness  is  the 
necessary  qualification  demanded  of  the  man 
who  shall  be  numbered  with  the  eleven.  These 
men  go  forth  to  bear  witness  of  the  Life  :  on  what 
assistance  do  they  rely  ?  The  Lord  has  prom- 
ised the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Who  shall 
guide  them  into  all  the  truth,  evidently  all  the 
truth  He  willed  them  to  proclaim  ;  Who  shall 
teach  them  all  tilings,  manifestly  all  the  things 
He  willed  them  to  teach,  for  He  did  not  teach 
them  all  things  ;  Who  shall  refresh  their  mem- 
ory of  the  words  He  had  spoken  ;  Who  will  en- 
able them  to  know  "  things  to  come"  ;  and 
h*  lally.  Who  will  teach  them  words  to  answer 
when  they  shall  stand  for  His  sake  before  hos- 
tile tribunals. 

St.  Paul,  in  writing  to  the  Corinthians,  cata- 


1 1 6  Discrim  in  at  ion 


logues  the  spiritual  gifts  which  the  Church  had 
received  in  fulfilment  of  the  Lord's  promise  to 
confer  the  energies  necessary  for  the  work  He 
had  given  it  to  do  ;  and  so  far  as  this  descrip- 
tion goes  it  affirms  the  influence  exerted  upon 
the  recipient  to  have  been  limited.  The  special 
enlightenment  is  said  to  have  been  conferred 
as  to  a  special  definite  subject-matter  only,  and 
the  grace  given  to  have  operated  according  to 
the  analogy  of  the  ordinary  faculties  of  the 
mind  ;  "  the  spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject 
to  the  prophets." 

What  materials  are  here  on  which  to  base  a 
general  theory  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  di- 
vine inspiration  I  And  yet  they  are  ample  to 
assure  me  that  the  witnesses  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, the  publishers  of  the  Word,  should  be  in- 
fallibly guided  in  bearing  that  witness  and  in 
publishing  that  Word  ;  should  be  supernaturally 
protected  from  error  as  to  the  truth,  the  revela- 
tion of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  May  I  not  rest 
here  and  be  satisfied  ?  And  resting  here,  of 
what  concern  to  me,  other  than  literary  or  an- 
tiquarian, are  the  petty  variations,  the   minute 


as  to  Evidences.  117 

discrepancies  in  the  Sacred  Records,  which  the 
microscopic  scrutiny  of  unbelief  has  discover- 
ed ?  I  am  content  to  wait  even  till  the  day  of 
the  restitution  of  all  things,  that  I  may  know 
whether  Cyrenius  was  once  or  twice  governor 
of  Syria  ;  and  I  will  not  be  made  unhappy  be- 
cause Strauss  boastfully  asserts  that  St.  Luke 
has  made  an  error  in  describing  Lysanias  as 
tetrarch  of  Abilene  in  the  fifteenth  year  of 
Tiberius  Caesar. 

Having  no  theory  to  maintain,  I  find  it  but 
natural  that  there  shall  be  marks  of  individu- 
ality in  the  writings  of  the  Evangelists,  and  an 
identity  of  recollection  and  of  description  in 
unessential  matters  were  as  strange  to  me  as 
were  an  exact  similarity  of  style  in  writing,  while 
this  latter  is  no  less  demanded  than  the  former 
by  a  verbal,  mechanical  theory  of  inspiration. 

Were  two  men  or  one  the  fierce  occupants  of 
the  dwelling  among  the  tombs  of  Gadara  whose 
demon  owned  subjection  to  our  Christ  ?  What 
matters  it  ?  He  is  witnessed  unto  as  mighty  to 
overcome  the  Evil  One  who  possessed  the 
demoniac. 


1 1 8  Discrimination 


The  ordinary  reader  finds  four  different  in- 
scriptions recorded  in  the  New  Testament  as 
that  which  was  set  up  over  the  head  of  the 
crucified  Jesus,  and  the  ordinary  reader  finds 
therein  no  cause  for  doubt  or  alarm,  because 
each  proclaims  the  reality  of  the  death  of  the 
King  and  His  claim  to  be  the  Christ.  But  her- 
meneutic  ingenuity  has  suggested  that  St.  Mat- 
thew copied  the  one  in  Hebrew,  St.  Mark  that 
in  Latin,  and  St.  John  that  in  Greek,  while  St. 
Luke  has  combined  two  of  the  inscriptions  into 
one.  Let  this  example  suffice  to  show  us  the 
extremities  to  which  men  must  have  recourse 
in  their  effort  to  make  the  facts  of  Scripture 
harmonize  with  preconceived  theory. 

But  I  may  not  fail,  in  conclusion,  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  most  serious  evil  which  has  arisen 
from  this  assertion  of  extravagant  a  priori 
theory  of  inspiration,  in  the  conflict,  with  which 
it  has  had  much  to  do,  between  the  Bible  reve- 
lation and  the  discoveries  of  modern  science. 
I  would  certain/y  not  be  understood  as  laying 
the  sole  responsibility  for  this  evil  at  the  door 
of  the  theologian,  or  as  failing  to  recognize  that 


as  to  Evidences.  119 


the  bigotry  of  physical  science  has  in  its  Doc- 
tors been  as  violent  and  as  offensive  as  any 
that  can  be  ascribed  to  the  Professors  of  science 
theological.  But  the  fault  with  us  has  been 
real,  and  has  arisen  in  largest  part,  as  I  have 
said,  from  this  disposition  to  theorize,  and  to 
the  feeling  of  ignorant  fear  lest  the  letting  go 
of  the  theory  should  be  letting  go  of  the  faith. 
Was  it  not  because  of  the  exigencies  of  a  par- 
ticular theory  of  inspiration  that  for  so  long  a 
time  the  battle  raged  between  the  testimony  of 
Genesis  and  the  testimony  of  the  rocks,  then 
newly  discovered,  upon  the  battle-field  of  the 
creation  ?  And  constrained  by  this  feeling  of 
loyalty  to  a  theory  of  inspiration  as  though  it 
were  loyalty  to  Christ,  how  hardly  and  with  what 
unseemly  compromises  and  flank  movements  did 
Theology  retreat  from  the  ground,  forgetting 
that  the  rocks  are  as  truly  the  scrolls  of  His 
writing  as  those  Oracles  whereof  a  chosen  people 
was  the  guardian  ? 

Is  it  not  in  obedience  to  a  mechanical  theory 
of  inspiration  that  to-day  men  are  afraid  lest 
the  religion  of  Jesus  is  going  to  perish  if  so  be 


120  Discrimination 


that  the  modern  scientific  hypothesis,  as  to  the 
development  of  the  universe  and  of  man  by 
process  of  evolution,  shall  be  proved  correct  ? 
Shall  we  strain  the  language  of  the  writing  to 
make  it  square  with  the  discoveries  of  science, 
or  shall  we  deny  the  alleged  facts  ?  Shall  we 
not  rather  learn  from  the  great  Bishop  of  Dur- 
ham, "  that  the  only  question  concerning  the 
truth  of  Christianity  is  whether  it  is  a  real 
revelation,  not  whether  it  is  attended  with  every 
circumstance  we  should  look  for.  And  concern- 
ing the  authority  of  Scripture,  whether  it  is 
what  it  claims  to  be,  not  whether  it  be  a  book 
of  such  a  sort  and  so  promulgated  as  weak  men 
are  apt  to  fancy  a  book  containing  a  divine 
revelation  should.  And  therefore  neither  ob- 
scurity, nor  seeming  inaccuracy  of  style,  nor 
various  readings,  nor  early  disputes  about  the 
authors  of  particular  parts,  nor  any  other  things 
of  like  kind,  though  they  had  been  much  more 
considerable  in  degree  than  they  are,  could 
overthrow  the  authority  of  Scripture,  unless  the 
Prophets,  Apostles,  or  our  Lord  had  promised 
that  the  book  containing  the  Divine  Revelation 


as  to  Evidences.  121 

should  be  secure  from  these  things. "  *  In  other 
words,  that  no  theory  of  Divine  Inspiration  is 
itself  a  part  of  the  Divine  Revelation,  and  that 
we  are  incapable  to  determine  a  priori  what 
such  revelation  must  contain.  Then  because 
there  can  be  no  conflict  between  the  different 
utterances  of  the  same  God,  therefore  no  dis- 
covery of  science  can  overthrow  our  faith  ;  for 
there  is  written  no  promise  that  the  Spirit 
would  communicate  to  Prophet  or  Apostle  the 
truths  of  science,  and  no  one  of  them  makes 
claim  to  such  knowledge. 

The  truth  of  Christianity  then  rests  upon  the 
reality  of  the  Christ,  and  the  evidence  of  that 
truth  is  the  evidence  of  that  reality.  This  evi- 
dence is  sufficient  and  satisfying,  for  it  is  Christ 
Himself,  a  Being  impossible  to  human  imagina 
tion  to  create,  and  witnessed  to  by  testimony 
which  is  inexplicable  on  the  supposition  of  His 
unreality.  Therefore,  I  entreat,  let  us  present 
Christ  Himself,  living  and  omnipotent,  as  ir 
the  days  of  His  sojourn  here,  and  not  any  the- 
ories as  to  the  mode  of  His  being  or  of  His  re- 
*  Butler's  "Analogy,"  part  ii.  ch.  3. 


122         Discrimination  as  to  Evidences. 

demptive  work.  So  best,  I  believe,  shall  men 
be  convinced  by  His  Spirit  to  believe  with  the 
heart  and  confess  with  the  mouth. 

I  remember  a  day  when  I  came,  a  novice  in 
my  Episcopal  work,  to  a  little  town  in  my  Dio- 
cese, where  a  number  of  Christian  Denomina- 
tions had  each  a  representative  with  his  shib- 
boleth of  doctrine.  I  was  introduced  to  a  lead- 
ing citizen  as  to  a  man  much  interested  in 
religious  matters,  who  greeted  me  with  the 
question,  "  Do  you  preach  final  perseverance  or 
falling  from  grace?"  I  answered,  "I  try  to 
preach  Jesus  Christ,  that  men  may  believe  in 
Him  and  strive  to  live  His  life  ;  we  shall  know 
all  the  mysteries  when  we  come  where  He  is." 
You  will  pardon  the  homeliness  of  the  incident, 
for  it  illustrates  fully  all  that  I  have  been  try- 
ing to  say,  the  disposition  of  the  disciples  of 
Christ  to  be  busy  with  theories  of  doctrine, 
whereas  the  need  of  men  is  the  revelation  of 
God,  which  is  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  of  which 
revelation  He  is  His  own  witness. 


LECTURE    III. 
Discrimination   as   to   Ritual. 


LECTURE    III. 

DISCRIMINATION   AS    TO    RITUAL. 

"  And  they  continued  steadfastly  in  the  apostles'  doc- 
trine and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in 
prayers." — Acts  2  :  42. 

I  AM  to  speak  this  evening  of  the  necessity 
for  discrimination  in  reference  to  the  sub- 
ject of  worship  or  ritual  ;  but  I  am  not  willing 
to  admit  to  myself  or  to  another,  that  in  doing 
so  I  am  putting  aside  the  "  weightier  matters" 
of  doctrine  and  evidence  for  the  consideration 
of  the  "  small  dust  of  the  balance,"  which  can 
be  of  no  value  in  estimating  our  condition. 
To-day  our  mother  Church  of  England  is  sorely 
perplexed  by  the  untoward  result  of  an  effort 
to  control,  in  this  respect,  the  self-will  of  some 
of  her  Ministers,  and  the  persecution  alleged  to 
be  legalized  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  designed 
to  regulate  her  public  worship,  has  accomplished 
more  in  the  direction   of  her  disestablishment 


126  Discrimination 


than  all  the  organized  combinations  of  dissent 
with  unbelief.  In  our  own  country  and  Church 
angry  controversy  about  this  matter  has  dis- 
turbed the  peace  and  enfeebled  the  strength 
of  Dioceses,  which  has  had  to  the  ordinary  ob- 
server no  greater  gravamen  than  the  posture  of 
a  Minister  or  the  shape  of  his  vestment  ;  and 
the  world  has  made  itself  merry  over  what  it 
esteems  our  "  much  ado  about  nothing."  Let 
me  add  that  educated  and  cultivated  men  and 
women  are  being  repelled  by  the  worship,  bald 
and  unadorned,  of  our  non-liturgical  brethren, 
and  that  perhaps  largest  proportion  of.  the  pros- 
elytes to  our  communion  are  attracted  by  the 
magnet  of  our  Liturgy. 

For  many  reasons,  then,  I  feel  the  pressing 
need  of  wise  discrimination  on  this  subject. 
Because  our  often  bitter  contests  are  so  un- 
seemly, and  because  they  have  been  of  late 
years  the  most  efficient  causes  of  division  in 
our  Christian  camp  ;  because  they  are  an  ob- 
stacle which  they  must  overcome  who  would 
fain  worship  God  in  our  old-time  way,  and 
often  they  who  are  just  beginning  to  desire  to 


as.  to  Ritual.  127 


worship  Him  in    any  way  ;   and,  because   the 
Ritual  of  public  worship  is  perhaps  the  most 
effective  means  of  inculcating  particular  phase 
of  Christian  doctrine  ;  for  all  these  reasons  I 
would  consider  how  much  of  liberty  the  individ- 
ual Minister   and  Congregation  possess  as  to 
this  function,  whether  it  should  be  increased  or 
diminished,  and  what  are  its  only  limitation*. 
And  I  would  plead  that  we  do  not  in  our  self- 
will  seek  either  to  increase  or  to  diminish  that 
accorded  to  us  or  to  our  brethren,  by  undertak- 
ing to  speak  what  neither  Scripture  nor  Church 

has  spoken. 

That   the  believers   in   the   risen,  ascended 
Christ,  should   meet    in   fellowship   with   His 
chosen  Apostles,  and  especially  on  the  day  of 
their  appointment,  the  day  of  Hisresurrect.on, 
to  worship  Him  Whom  God  had  declared  both 
Lord  and  Christ,  was  only  natural.     We  may 
find  sufficient  explanation  of  .the  origin  of  pub- 
lic Christian  worship  in  the  nature  of  man,  and 
the  belief  these  disciples  have  learned.     Fur- 
ther than  this,  we  must  remember  that  these 
earliest  Christians  are  members  of  "  the  elect 


128  Discrimination 


people,"  whose  very  bond  of  national  union 
was  kinship  to  one  ancestor  and  the  worship  of 
the  God  Jehovah,  who  had  made  covenant  with 
him. 

Now,  as  baptized  confessors  of  Jesus  Christ 
they  believe  themselves  partakers  of  a  "  better 
covenant,  established  upon  better  promises," 
because  they  have  been  made  one  with  Him 
Who  is  its  Mediator  ;  they  are  the  citizens  of  a 
holy  nation,  they  are  a  royal  priesthood,  whose 
bond  of  union  is  the  kinship  not  of  blood  but 
of  faith,  and  the  worship  of  God  in  J  esus  Christ. 

'Tis  only  natural  that  we  find  them,  in  the 
great  congregation  on  the  Sabbath  day,  min- 
gling their  prayers  to  Jehovah  with  those  of  all 
the  sons  of  Abraham  ;  that  they  still  rejoice  in 
the  assurance  of  pardon  which  the  flaming 
burnt-offering  gives,  and  in  the  perfumed  cloud 
of  incense,  the  symbol  of  accepted  prayer. 
And  with,  as  yet,  no  design  to  separate  them- 
selves into  a  new  religious  Communion  essen- 
tially different  from  that  into  which  they  were 
admitted  in  infancy  ;  with  no  thought  even  to 
constitute  a  sect  within  the  National  Church  ; 


as  to  Ritual.  129 


not  yet  understanding  that  their  ascended  Lord 
did  by  His  own  death  make  an  end  of  sacri- 
fice, they  just  as  naturally  come  together,  as 
Christians,  to  break  bread  from  house  to  house, 
as  "  they  continue,"  as  Hebrews,  "  daily  with 
one  accord  in  the  temple."  Believing  in  God 
manifested  in  Jesus  Christ,  they  must  meet  to 
worship  Him,  even  the  God  into  Whose  Name 
of  triple  Personality  they,  by  commandment  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  have  been  baptized. 

True,  we  may  find,  as  the  Dean  of  Norwich 
has  done,  the  special  charter  of  all  public  Chris- 
tian worship  in  the  promise  of  our  Lord,  of 
peculiar  efficacy  to  the  prayer  wherein  even  two 
are  agreed,  and  find  therein  at  the  same  time 
the  almost  necessity,  certainly  the  suggested 
value,  of  a  prescript  form.  "  If  two  of  you 
shall  agree  on  earth,"  the  Lord  Jesus  said  to 
His  disciples,  "  as  touching  anything  that  they 
shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven. ' '  *  But  it  has  been 
suggested  :  "  This  must  be  primarily  a  continu- 
ation of  the  second  measure  prescribed  in  cases 
*  St.  Matthew  18  :  19. 


1 30  Discrimination 

of  offence,  when  two  or  three  witnesses  were  to 
be  called,"*  and  we  do  not  need  such  specific 
warrant  for  assembling  ourselves  together.  It 
is  the  natural,  the  necessary  expression  of  our 
common  faith,  that  we  come  to  tell  it  each  to 
other  for  mutual  help,  and  that  we  make  it  the 
basis  of  a  common  prayer  to  our  common 
Father  ;  and  it  was  the  lesson  taught  by  the 
divine  method  of  training  the  religious  teachers 
of  the  world. 

In  this  our  day  of  literary  culture  and  ad- 
vanced thought,  intellectual  fastidiousness  is 
crying  out  against  the  homely  fare  which  the 
Pulpit  provides,  and  professes  itself  -unable  to 
find  satisfying  refreshment  in  the  "  old,  old 
story,"  because  of  the  lack  of  skill  in  him  who 
offers  it.  Even  Christian  men  are  heard  excus- 
ing their  own  absence  from  the  Church's  wor- 
ship on  the  Lord's  Day,  on  the  ground  that 
the  Press  has  come  into  the  office  once  exclu- 
sively held  by  the  Pulpit,  and  that  from  printed 
page,  in  the  comfortable  quiet  of  their  own 
Library,  they  can  get  more  spiritual  sustenance 
*  Lange,  Commentary  in  loco. 


as  to  Ritual.  131 


than  from  the  sacred  Desk  in  the  midst  of  the 
Congregation. 

May  I  not  remind  them  that  they  are  doing 
violence  to  the  Christian  instinct,  as  to  the 
Apostolic  precept,  in  thus  refusing  to  make  one 
of  the  assembly  met  in  the  Lord's  house  ? 
May  I  not  remind  them  that  to  the  ear  of  the 
loyal,  faithful  subject  of  the  distant  king,  the 
tone  and  accent  and  language  which  tell  of 
the  Fatherland  must  be  sweet  and  attractive, 
though  the  speaker  have  but  little  art  of  dis- 
course, though  his  thought  be  feeble  and  inco- 
herent ?  And  may  I  not  bid  them  consider 
that  like  as  the  natural  expression  of  the  Chris- 
tian heart  is,  "I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto 
me,  we  will  go  into  the  house  of  the  Lord, ' '  even 
so  the  refusal  to  gratify  that  natural  desire  is 
the  most  effective  means  possible  to  prevent 
its  strengthening  ;  and  that  when  the  heart  no 
longer  cries  out  for  the  company  of  the  saved 
it  begins  to  cease  to  hope  for  the  vision  of  the 
Saviour  ?  Above  all,  may  I  not  remind  them, 
that  though  the  preached  word,  foolishness  as 
it  seems  to  the  world,  is  the  appointed  instru- 


132  Discrimination 


ment  by  which  the  Holy  Ghost  will  work  to 
convince  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment  ;  yet,  that  the  baptized  disci- 
ples of  that  earliest  day,  who  must  be  our  ex- 
emplars, came  not  to  their  upper  chamber  to 
hear  a  Sermon,  but  to  worship  Christ  ?  It  was 
"  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  the  dis- 
ciples came  together  to  break  bread,  Paul 
preached  unto  them." 

I  say,  then,  that  the  assembling  of  Christian 
men  to  worship  God  in  Jesus  Christ  is  natural, 
and  the  question  at  once  arises,  What  shall  be 
the  form  of  such  worship  ?  I  answer,  that 
plainly  the  one  single  peculiar  act  of  Christian 
worship,  as  we  are  taught  by  the  Christian 
records,  and  by  the  devotional  exercises  of  other 
religions,  is  the  "  breaking  of  bread."  A 
moment's  consideration  will  serve  to  assure  us 
of  this  fact.  Prayer  is  as  universal  as  man- 
kind ;  the  reading  of  sacred  writings,  and  their 
exposition  by  duly  appointed  officers,  have  been 
features  of  the  worship  of  all  the  religions  in 
any  sense  worthy  of  that  name.  Even  Baptism 
was  clearly  a  rite  of  the  dispensation  of  Moses, 


as  to  Ritual.  133 


and  was  practiced  as  part  of  the  initiatory  cere- 
monies admitting  to  the  sacred  mysteries  of 
other  ancient  nations. 

The  record  is  of  those  three  thousand  bap- 
tized on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  those  first  con- 
verts made  after  the  Master  was  gone  away, 
that  they  "  continued  steadfastly  in  the  apos- 
tles' doctrine  and  fellowship."  Yes,  doubt- 
less they  longed  to  know  more  and  more 
of  the  heavenly  doctrine  of  which  they  had 
learned,  but  the  very  first  principle,  even  the 
resurrection  of  the  crucified  Jesus,  and  there- 
fore they  clung  eagerly  to  the  men  who  had 
been  eye-witnesses  of  His  majesty,  and  "did 
eat  and  drink  with  Him  after  He  rose  from 
the  dead."  But  they  continued  as  well  in 
11  prayers,"  doubtless  the  public  prayers  of  the 
assembled  Church,  that  they  might  learn  how 
He  the  Master  had  taught  His  disciples  to 
pray  ;  and  there  is  added,  "  the  breaking  of 
bread  "  as  part  of  their  newly  learned  worship. 
This  leads  me  to  remark,  further,  that  while 
apparently  the  public  worship  of  the  Church  of 
the  early  days  always  included  "  the  breaking 


1 34  Discrimination 


of  bread,"  and  that"  this  Communion  was  ad- 
ministered not  only  weekly  but  daily,  and  per- 
haps even  at  every  ordinary  meal,  there  is  yet 
no  injunction  of  any  Apostle  as  to  the  proper 
frequency  of  the  Ordinance,  and  just  as  little 
direction  as  to  the  mode  of  proceeding  in  its 
celebration  ;  indeed,  there  is  not  from  any 
Apostle  any  positive  command  that  it  be  admin- 
istered at  all.  How  instructive  is  this  silence 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  founders  of  what  was  to 
be  a  Catholic  Church,  fitted  in  all  things  to  be 
the  spiritual  home  of  "  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men  !"  And  how  full  of  teaching  for  us,  as 
to  the  tolerant  concession  of  liberty  in  the  mere 
form  of  expression,  if  only  the  substance  of  the 
faith  be  kept  intact  ! 

Public  Christian  worship  is,  as  I  have  said, 
a  necessary  outgrowth  of  a  common  belief 
in  the  one  Lord,  but  the  manner  of  its 
performance  will  be  dependent  upon  the  cul- 
ture and  taste  of  the  worshippers,  and  perhaps 
more  upon  the  point  of  doctrinal  develop- 
ment they  have  reached,  and  the  special  as- 
pect of  the  redemptive  work  which  they  have 


as  to  Ritual.  135 


most  fully  seized.  Hence  its  form  will  ever 
be  variable,  while  its  idea  remains  unchanged 
and  unchangeable.  As  our  article  expresses 
it,  "It  is  not  necessary  that  traditions  and 
ceremonies  be  in  all  places  one,  or  utterly  like  ; 
for  at  all  times  they  have  been  divers,  and  may 
be  changed  according  to  the  diversity  of  coun- 
tries, times,  and  men's  manners,  so  that  noth- 
ing be  ordained  against  God's  word." 

I  have  found  it  profitable,  at  times,  in  the 
presence  of  the  gorgeous  ceremonial  of  some 
great  occasion,  to  journey,  in  memory,  back  to 
that  borrowed  room  at  Jerusalem,  where  sor- 
rowing disciples  are  ignorantly  listening  to  the 
leave-taking  of  their  Master.  How  different  is 
the  seed  just  being  cast  into  the  ground,  from 
this  flowering  glory  we  now  behold  and  enjoy  ! 
There  is  the  familiar  unrestraint  of  mutual 
affection  and  confidence  ;  every  attitude  and 
every  word  is  the  feature  of  a  family  reunion, 
rather  than  of  a  solemn  function.  Did  they  in 
any  sense  realize,  I  have  wondered,  these  He- 
brews who  are  there,  that  the  simple  act  of 
blessing  and  consuming  the  bread  and  wine  is 


136  Discrimination 


to  take  the  place  of  their  Passover  feast,  with 
all  its  magnificence  of  ritual  ;  that  it  is  to  be 
the  central  act  of  a  world's  worship  ? 

But  I  must  remember  as  well  that  nowhere  is 
like  simplicity  and  familiarity  prescribed  for 
the  conduct  of  this  Feast  by  those  who  shall 
come  after,  and  that  such  mode  of  its  celebra- 
tion were  unnatural  to  us. 

Further,  I  recall  that  in  the  only  account  of 
the  worship  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  from 
which  we  can  gain  even  the  least  idea  of  the 
manner  of  its  performance,  St.  Paul  rebukes 
the  Corinthians  for  their  slovenly  disregard  of 
the  merely  external  proprieties.  He  seems  to 
find  in  this  the  evidence  of  their  want  of  appre- 
ciation of  the  truth  of  the  Sacrament,  to  which, 
as  cause,  he  attributes  the  result,  that  "  many 
are  weak  and  sickly  among  you  (them),  and 
many  sleep." 

Now,  on  the  one  hand,  it  seems  to  me  to  fol- 
low inevitably  from  such  rebuke  administered 
at  this  time,  that  the  Corinthian  Christians  can- 
not have  been  taught  by  their  father  in  the  Gos- 
pel any  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  which  at 


as  to  Ritual.  137 


all  approximates  that  of  the  Roman  Mass,  the 
Lutheran  Miracle,  or  the  High  Anglican  Pres- 
ence ;  for  it  is  inconceivable  that  men  so  in- 
structed could  so  soon  have  fallen  away  into 
such  gross  irreverence  of  behavior  toward  their 
God,  there  present  under  the  form  of  bread 
and  wine. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  just  as  plain 
that  St.  Paul  here  gives  no  warrant  for  what 
has  been  called  "  the  piety  of  irreverence,"  or 
for  the  assumption  that  absence  of  "  bodily  ex- 
ercise" is  irrefragable  proof  of  the  activity  of 
the  spirit.  Most  important  of  all,  let  us  note 
that  here,  where  it  was  most  naturally  to  be 
expected,  he  gives  no  Apostolic  directory  of 
worship,  save  only  to  recite  the  account  he 
had  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  of  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Christian  Passover.  And  this  is 
all  :  we  look  in  vain  through  the  Scripture 
history  for  other,  even  the  least  suggestion  of 
what  the  ritual  of  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be, 
save  only  the  Lord's  "do  this,"  "what  and 
as  ye  have  seen  me  do."  The  Apostle  seems 
to  promise  in  his  letter  that  he  would  give  them 


1 3  8  Disc? 'im  mat  ion 


more  definite  instructions  when  he  should  come 
to  Corinth.  "  The  rest,"  he  says,  "  will  I  set 
in  order  when  I  come."*  There  were,  we 
must  suppose,  other  irregularities  in  their 
manner  of  keeping  the  feast,  about  which  he 
would  give  authoritative  regulation  whenever 
he  should  be  present  with  them.  I  cannot  help 
asking,  Was  he  withheld  by  the  Divine  Spirit 
from  incorpoiating  these  minutiae  in  the  Letter 
which  was  to  make  part  of  the  Church's  "  Rule 
of  Faith  and  Practice"  ? 

The  question  presents  itself  boldly  at  this 
point,  "  Why,  then,  have  any  Liturgy?"  If 
confessedly  there  is  no  record  of  any  possess- 
ing Apostolic  sanction,  then  presumably  the 
custom  in  the  Churches  founded  by  the  labors 
of  inspired  men  was  for  the  mode  to  be  deter- 
mined and  provided  by  the  Elder  who  should 
be  on  any  occasion  thus  ministering  before  the 
Lord.  Doubtless  each  in  conformity  to  St. 
Paul's  account  of  "  that  which  he  received  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,"  would,  as  part  of  his  Service, 
recite  the  words  of  Institution,  as  has  been  the 
*  i  Cor.  xi.  :  34. 


as  to  Ritual.  139 


custom  of  all  Ministers  in  every  age  and  of 
every  sect  ;  but  for  the  rest,  why  shall  not  the 
Elders  in  every  city  be  free  now  as  then  ? 

For  myself  I  answer,  that  to  my  mind  the 
presumption  is  rather  that  each  Apostle  gave 
specific  directions  as  to  the  performance  of 
this  duty  to  the  Elders  whom  he  ordained  ;  for 
surely,  after  the  experience  at  Corinth,  so  wise 
a  man  as  St.  Paul  would  not  have  opened  wide 
the  floodgates  of  error  in  leaving  "at  the 
mercy  of  the  individual  minister  presiding  over 
the  congregation  at  the  time  of  the  celebra- 
tion," a  service  which  "  enshrines  such  a  mys- 
tery." *  I  do  not  say  that  any  form  of  words 
is  essential  to  make  the  Sacrament  a  valid  means 
of  grace,  for  I  find  no  such  condition  in  Holy 
Scripture  ;  but  I  do  say  that  being  our  Master's 
own  appointment,  for  the  expression  of  the 
common  faith  of  His  people  in  common  prayer 
to  Him,  for  communion  with  one  another,  and 
for  receiving  the  common  blessing  His  grace 
will  bestow,  it  is  natural  that  prearranged  cere- 

*  Sadler,   Liturgies  and   Ritual,   "  The  Church  and  the 
Age,"  p.  264. 


14°  Discrimination 

monial  shall  be  its  setting,  of  which  His  own 
acts  and  words  at  the  time  of  its  Institution 
must  be  the  foundation,  but  of  which  the  de- 
tails are  variable  and  to  be  fixed  in  every  case 
by  the  proper  authority.  In  proof  that  such 
p rearrangement  is  natural,  I  note  that  even  if 
the  authority  to  which  he  owes  allegiance  has 
left  to  the  individual  Minister  the  freedom  of 
extempore  utterance  in  this  Service,  yet  in  gen- 
eral his  own  sense  of  fitness  causes  that  his 
apparently  spontaneous  expressions  shall  be 
stereotyped. 

Now  two  causes  will  be  operative  to  effect 
development  of  the  Liturgy  :  first,  the  de- 
velopment of  dogma,  and  the  consequent 
necessary  desire  and  endeavor  to  express  the 
common  belief  in  the  common  worship  ;  and, 
secondly,  the  aesthetic  development  and  culture 
of  the  Priest  and  the  People,  and  the  conse- 
quent desire  and  endeavor  to  gratify  the  re- 
fined taste,  in  the  acts  of  religious  homage. 

It  were  wandering  very  far  away  from  my 
path  for  me  to  go  into  the  setting  forth  of  the 
history  of  the  progress  of  Christian  doctrine  in 


as  to  Ritual. 


14] 


this  particular  department,  and  of  the  corre- 
sponding development  of  the  Liturgy  to  be  its 
expression.  It  is  a  long  road  from  that  gather- 
ing of  the  disciples  to  break  bread,  when 
"  Paul  preached  unto  them,"  unto  the  celebra- 
tion of  High  Mass  in  a  Roman  cathedral  of 
to-day,  where,  with  all  the  dramatic  surround- 
ings of  music  and  painting,  posture  and  cos- 
tume, a  Priest  offers  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of 
God,  as  unbloody  sacrifice  to  be  the  propitiation 
for  the  sins  of  the  living  and  the  dead  ;  and 
then  in  jewelled  Monstrance  uplifts  for  the  wor- 
ship of  the  congregation  this  Christ  thus  "  vis- 
ibly set  forth,  crucified  among  them."  But 
we  may  tarry  at  numerous  resting  places  before 
we  come  to  this,  the  very  ultima  tluile  of  sacra- 
mental discovery  ;  they  are  at  greatly  varying 
distance  from  the  original  starting-point,  in 
doctrine  and  in  its  representation  ;  but  I  would 
have  you  mark  only  this,  that  in  general  the 
departure  from  the  simplicity  of  Apostolic  wor- 
ship is  in  exact  proportion  to  increased  appre- 
ciation of  the  significance  and  value  of  the  sac- 
ramental act.      I  say    "  in   general,"  for,  as  al- 


1 42  Discri?n  inat  ion 


ready  suggested,  there  has  been  another  cause 
at  work  to  expedite  this  progress  of  liturgical 
development,  which  has  absolutely  no  connec- 
tion with  the  doctrine  which  any  Liturgy  may 
enfold. 

More  than  this  :  I  would  not  be  understood 
to  say  that  this  increased  appreciation  of  sac- 
ramental reality  is  wholly  evil.  Clearly  our 
knowledge  of  Christian  truth  is  in  many  partic- 
ulars greater  than  that  of  the  earliest  disciples, 
and  there  is  no  one  point  as  to  which  this  ad- 
vantage is  more  palpable  than  that  we  are  con- 
sidering. I  believe  that  in  the  beginning  the 
social  aspect  of  the  Holy  Supper  was  largely 
predominant  :  that  the  Agape  overshadowed 
the  Communion.  The  common  meal  was  to 
them  the  symbol  of  their  union,  in  poverty,  and 
in  danger  of  persecution  ;  the  koivqoviol  had 
perhaps  to  their  minds,  its  fullest  reference  to 
the  "  goods"  wherein  all  shared  ;  and  the  ideas 
of  a  symbolic  sacrifice,  and  of  a  means  of  grace 
were  obscured  ;  ideas  wrapped  up  in  the  words 
of  the  Christ  ;  ideas  which  the  apprehension  of 
a- century  later  had  seized  and  enshrined  in  its 


as  to  Ritual.  143 


Liturgy  ;  ideas,  one  of  which  after  generations 
have  exaggerated  into  a  denial  of  the  alone 
efficacy  of  the  "  one  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient 
sacrifice,"  "  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world," 
and  the  other  into  a  mechanical  theory  which 
degrades  the  conception  of  spiritual  worship, 
and  makes  the  cultivation  of  the  religious  life 
the  working  of  a  machine. 

The  Liturgy  has  in  every  case  kept  accurate 
step,  with  the  doctrine,  in  its  march,  for  they 
are  tied  together  by  closest  bond,  and  each 
sustains  the  other.  Ornate  ritual  is  hardly 
possible  except  it  be  vivified  by  a  teaching 
which  it  symbolizes  ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
the  doctrine  held  and  taught  must  find, 
ought  to  find,  its  embodiment  in  the  acts 
and  words  of  devotion.  I  remember  to  have 
heard  of  most  elaborate  ritual  being  intro- 
duced by  a  Unitarian  minister  in  one  of  our 
Western  towns,  in  the  administration  of  a  Sac- 
rament which  his  doctrine,  if  truly  set  forth  by 
the  author  of  "  Ecce  Homo,"  esteems  as  only 
"  a  club  dinner,"  and  naturally  the  effect  was 
only  contemptuous  laughter,  for  there  was  no 


144  Discrimination 


reality  within  to  give  life  to  the  outward  ex- 
hibition. The  ritual  routine  is  only  as  the  pic- 
tures stained  into  the  window-panes,  unmean- 
ing and  offensive,  whether  they  be  elaborate  or 
simple,  until  the  light  behind  brings  out  the 
colors  and  the  design  ;  and  just  as  really  the 
light  of  dogmatic  truth  must  have  some  ritual 
screen  as  softening  medium  through  which  it 
may  enter  the  eye  of  the  beholder,  else  it  shall 
be  painful,  and  provoke  the  resistance  of  the 
closed  eyelid. 

But,  as  I  have  already  suggested,  the  status 
of  a  people  in  artistic  and  literary  pursuits  will 
be  an  index,  in  general,  of  the  level  of  their 
liturgical  necessities  and  desires,  without  any 
reference  to  the  connection  between  ritual  and 
dogma.  This  connection  is  certainly  close, 
general,  indeed  almost  universal,  and  yet 
aesthetic  considerations  will  sometimes  produce 
a  ritualistic  development  which  at  first  sight 
we  may  from  this  observed  connection  attrib- 
ute to  an  "  advance"  of  religious  opinion.  It 
is  important  that  we  bear  this  fact  in  mind,  for 
it  is  a  factor  of  large  value  in  the  problem  of 


as  to  Ritual.  145 


determining  the  limits  of  liturgical  liberty,  and 
in  the  formation  of  the  judgments  sometimes 
demanded  as  to  the  fact  and  the  extent  of  the 
transgression  of  those  limits  by  an  individual 
Minister  or  Congregation. 

How  shall  these  limits  of  liturgical  freedom 
be  determined  ?  Scripture  is  confessedly  si- 
lent ;  genuine  Apostolic  traditions,  even  within 
the  lifetime  of  the  Apostles,  were  attended  by 
counterfeits  which  deceived  those  who  had 
themselves  been  pupils  of  the  inspired  teach- 
ers ;  naturally,  necessarily,  the  Church  of  each 
age  must  fix  them,  as  the  Church  has  fixed 
them  in  every  period  of  her  history,  and  we  are 
bound  by  the  decrees  of  that  particular  Church 
by  whose  authority  we  stand  to  minister  before 
God,  as  the  leader  of  His  people's  worship. 

Beyond  controversy,  this  must  be  true  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case — true  for  us  all,  whatever 
theory  of  Church  government  we  may  accept — 
whether  we  be  adherents  of  the  loosest  system 
of  Congregationalism  or  of  the  stiffest  theory 
of  Apostolic  succession  in  the  Episcopate.  We 
are  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Christ, 


1 46  Disc  rim  ina  t  ion 


whatever  be  our  conception  of  its  character, 
notes,  and  limits,  because  we  are  members  of 
the  particular  organization  into  which  we  were 
received  by  baptism,  and  not  vice  versa.  And 
if  that  Body  be  part  of  the  Catholic  Church 
(and  no  one  would  be  member  of  it  except  he 
believe  it  such),  it  must  have  exclusive  author- 
ity in  respect  to  its  officers  and  members,  to 
"  ordain,  change,  and  abolish  ceremonies  or 
rites  of  the  Church,  ordained  only  by  man's 
authority."*  The  first  limit,  then,  of  our  in- 
dividual liturgical  liberty  is  the  obligation  to 
conform  to  the  worship  of  that  Church  whereof 
we  are  members  and  ministers. 

But,  secondly,  the  Church  herself  is  limited 
in  the  exercise  of  her  power  by  the  truth 
whereof  she  is  the  "witness  and  keeper,"  so 
that  in  the  liturgical  legislation  or  appointment 
"nothing  be  ordained  against  God's  word," 
and  "  so  that  all  things  be  done  to   edifying." 

Then  also  of  necessity  this  obligation,  resting 
upon  a  "  particular  church"  to  decree  nothing  as 
ceremonial  which   shall  possibly  convey  to  the 

*  "XXXIX.  Articles  of  Religion,"  Art.  xxxiv. 


as  to  Ritual.  147 


beholder  or  the  worshipper  other  conception  of 
God,  or  of  the  means  of  securing  part  of  His 
salvation  than  that  set  forth  in  Holy  Scripture  ; 
and  the  obligation  to  put  immediate  end  to 
such  false  representation  made  in  her  name  and 
with  her  apparent  sanction  ; — these  must  rest 
as  truly  upon  the  conscience  of  the  individual 
man  or  minister.  And  he  must  find  as  real 
ground  for  refusal  to  conform,  in  a  decreed  or- 
dinance which  to  him  pictures  falsehood,  as  in 
the  decreed  dogma  which  in  words  asserts  what 
he  believes  to  be  untrue.  Truth  first,  and  then 
authority — these  the  limits  of  our  liberty  in  the 
matter  of  public  worship. 

And,  further,  in  the  exercise  of  this  sovereign 
authority  the  Church  of  the  age  must  regard 
the  wisdom  of  those  who  possessed  the  special 
divine  guidance  to  which  she  can  lay  no  claim, 
and  thankfully  receive  and  follow  the  advice 
given  by  their  practice,  to  set  up  no  standards 
of  worship  as  immutable.  But  rather,  having 
regard  to  the  ever-changing  conditions  of  man's 
life,  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  philosophic  systems, 
and  the  consequent  modifications  of  the  forms 


148  Discrimination 


of  theological  statement  ;  to  the  progress  of 
art  and  the  resulting  modifications  of  devo- 
tional expression,  she  will  expect  the  demand 
for  liturgical  enrichment  and  liturgical  free- 
dom, a  demand  expressed  most  often  by  seem- 
ing violation  of  existing  law  ;  and  finally,  in  the 
wise  concession  to  such  demand,  shall  "all 
things  be  done  to  edifying." 

These  are  the  principles  on  which,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  the  question,  "  How  shall  we 
worship  God  ?"  must  always  receive  answer  in 
every  age  and  from  every  Church.  Let  us  now 
endeavor  their  application  to  the  present  con- 
dition of  that  venerable  and  Apostolic  Com- 
munion whereof  we  are  members. 

We  hear  on  every  hand  that  with  us  this  is  a 
day  of  lawlessness  ;  that  rubrics  are  dead  let- 
ters ;  that  the  "  godly  admonitions"  of  the 
Bishops,  rarely  spoken,  are  without  effect,  be- 
cause the  author  of  the  admonition  has  no 
power  to  compel  compliance  ;  that,  in  a  word, 
the  Church's  Ritual  law  is  such  a  mass  of  in- 
coherency  that  obedience  is  not  possible,  and 
disobedience    not  a  fault.      One   of    our  most 


as  to  Ritual.  149 


venerable  Bishops  has  published,  in  his  Charge 
to  his  Diocese,  that  the  day  is  come  when  every 
man  does,  liturgically,  what  is  right  in  the  sight 
of  his  own  eyes  ;  and  he  seems  to  express  his 
satisfaction  in  such  condition  of  things.  I  can 
hardly  consent  that  such  is  fair  description,  and 
yet  I  am  perfectly  aware  that  the  violations  of 
our  Ritual-law  are  frequent,  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left,  by  omission  and  by  commis- 
sion, by  defect  and  by  excess.  I  am  quite  pre- 
pared to  be  satisfied  with  some  of  these  viola- 
tions, and  to  find  in  them  no  disloyalty  to  the 
Church,  but  only  the  demand  for  larger  liberty, 
that  "all  things  may  be  done  to  edifying." 
To  me  many  of  these  violations  are  but  the 
action  of  the  giant  rousing  up  from  his  sleep 
of  self-indulgence  to  recognize  the  battle  that 
is  before  him,  and  shaking  himself  free  from 
the  withes  of  obsolete  injunctions,  which  are 
dead  and  dry  and  cannot  bind  his  strength,  de- 
spite their  apparent  freshness  and  beauty. 
Yes,  men  and  brethren,  in  my  judgment  the 
rubrical  offences  whereof  in  some  quarters  out- 
cry  is  made,    and   whose   chief   value    to    the 


I  kO  Discrimination 


offended  is  that  they  are  offset  and  defence  for 
their  own  departures  in  the  opposite  direction, 
are  just  the  failure  to  try  to  force  the  living, 
growing  Church  of  Christ  in  this  land,  into  a 
mould  which  was  fashioned  for  other  material 
under  other  circumstances,  and  the  failure  to 
insist  that  if  it  will  not  consent  to  be  thus  cir- 
cumscribed in  its  development  it  shall  not  grow 
at  all. 

Let  me  give  you  an  illustrative  exam- 
ple. I  remember  the  experience  of  an  earnest 
Clergyman  in  a  great  city,  who,  desiring  to  give 
opportunity  to  the  business  men  for  Lenten 
prayer  and  meditation,  advertised  that  there 
would  bea"  half-hour  service"  in  his  Church, 
which  was  situated  close  to  the  busiest  mart  of 
the  city,  each  day  at  noon.  The  Ordinary 
being  informed,  in  answer  to  inquiry,  that  the 
purpose  was  to  read  the  Litany  and  make  a 
short  address,  said  that  he  could  not  do  so 
unless  he  should  theretofore  say  the  Order  for 
Morning  Prayer,  either  in  the  Church  or  in  his 
own  Study. 

I  thank  God  that  I  can  believe  that  the  day 


as  to  Ritual.  151 


for  such  mad  consistency  is  past,  and  that  such 
slavish  subservience  to  the  letter  of  the  Rubric 
would  not  be  possible  now.      The  "  Rubric  of 
Common   Sense,"   as   it  has  been   called,    has 
come  to  be  understood  as  a  necessary  rule   for 
the   interpretation   of    the    Book    of    Common 
Prayer,  as  of  any   other  such  document.     But 
alas  !  this  is  the  evil  of  our  present  condition  : 
these  violations  of  the  Church's  Order  in  partic- 
ulars wherein  necessity  or  manifest  expediency 
constrains  that  the  law  be  ignored,  committed 
with  implied  or   even   explicit   consent   of  the 
Church  authority,  are  made  excuse  or  defence 
of  other  violations  of  the  Church's  Order,  which 
are  at  the  same  time  violations  of  the  Church's 
truth.     A  man  who  shakes  his  dusty  door-mat 
in  front  of  his  house,  and  a  man  who  attempts 
to  take  the   life   of  his   neighbor,    are   in    one 
sense  and  in  some  cities  equally  violators  of  the 
law,  for  it  as  plainly  prohibits  one  action  as  the 
other.      And  yet  the   one  prohibition   is  based 
upon  regard  for  the  comfort  of  the  citizens,  and 
the  other  upon  the  sanctity  of  a  God-given  life, 
and  only  a  most  disingenuous  special  pleading 


152  Discrim  {nation 


could  defend  the  crime  by  comparing  it  as  a 
violation  of  law  with  the  misdemeanor.  But 
this  distinction  seems  to  be  often  utterly 
ignored  in  the  formation  of  judgments,  by  indi- 
viduals, about  ecclesiastical  offences.  Because 
one  man  neglects  to  say,  "  Peace  be  to  this 
house,"  as  he  enters  the  abode  of  his  sick 
parishioner,  therefore  another  is  to  be  justified 
in  mutilating  the  Office  for  infant  baptism  that 
it  may  not  speak  to  the  Congregation  the  doc- 
trine which  the  Church  has  plainly  set  forth  in 
her  Articles  ;  and  another  must  be  suffered  to 
uplift  the  elements  of  the  Holy  Communion, 
and  to  do  before  them  every  act  that  is  nat- 
urally expressive  of  worship,  though  the  Church 
has  declared,  as  plainly  as  words  can  declare, 
that  she  teaches  no  such  doctrine  of  the  precious 
gift  of  the  "  spiritual  food  and  sustenance." 

I  would  not  seem  to  be  a  partisan  ;  I  would 
not  be  understood  as  pleading  for  liberty  for 
one  school  of  thought  in  the  Church,  and  for 
the  greater  repression  of  another  ;  but  I  must 
emphasize  the  radical  difference  between  viola- 
tions of  the  fundamental   Protestant   truth  of 


as  to  Ritual.  153 


the  Church,  of  the  doctrine  which  was  the  very 
inspiration  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  ade- 
quate occasion  for  martyr  death,  and  violations 
of  mere  prescriptions  of  proper  ministerial  per- 
formance, whose  neglect  and  regard  are  alike 
insignificant  in  the  inculcation  of  truth  or  error. 
More  than  this  :  I  would  emphasize  the  fact 
that  the  very  existence  of  difference  of  opinion 
upon  any  point  makes  the  more  obligatory  the 
faithful  and  accurate  use  of  the  words  of  the 
formula  having  reference  to  that  point  ;  that, 
permitted  to  wander  at  will  over  wide  field  of 
opinion,  we  must,  just  because  of  the  permis- 
sion, the  more  certainly  return  to  the  ren- 
dezvous. 

Now,  when  we  come  to  examine  the  Stand- 
ards of  the  Church  upon  the  subject  of  the  Sac- 
raments, we  may  perhaps,  some  of  us,  be 
amazed  to  find  the  large  liberty  of  opinion 
which  is  allowed,  and  that  no  positive  definition 
of  the  nature  of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  has  been  therein  promulgated.  I  mean, 
you  will  of  course  understand,  the  Standards  of 
this  Church,  and  not  the  recorded  lucubrations 


1 54  Discrimination 

of  the  individual  Doctors  who,  within  the  lib- 
erty thus  accorded,  have  furnished  definitions 
hard  and  positive,  often,  alas  !  married  to  ex- 
clusive denunciations  of  "  no-churchmanship" 
against  those  who  in  the  exercise  of  the  same 
liberty  have  reached  other  conclusions. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  proclaims, 
with  no  uncertain  voice,  that  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per is  a  veritable  "means  of  grace"  ;  that  it 
'-'  is  not  only  a  sign  of  the  love  that  Christians 
ought  to  have  among  themselves,  one  to  an- 
other, but  rather  it  is  a  Sacrament  of  our  Re- 
demption by  Christ's  death  :  insomuch  that  to 
such  as  rightly,  worthily,  and  with  faith  receive 
the  same,  the  Bread  which  we  break  is  a  par- 
taking of  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  likewise  the 
Cup  of  blessing  is  a  partaking  of  the  Blood  of 
Christ."  She  declares  in  express  terms  that 
"  Transubstantiation  (or  the  change  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Supper  of 
the  Lord)  cannot  be  proved  by  Holy  Writ  ; 
but  is  repugnant  to  the  plain  words  of  Scrip- 
ture, overthroweth  the  nature  of  a  sacrament, 
and  hath  given  occasion  to  many  superstitions.  " 


as  to  Ritual.  155 


She  declares  that  "  the  Body  of  Christ  is  given, 
taken,  and  eaten  in  the  supper  only  after  an 
heavenly  and  spiritual  manner,"  and  that  "  the 
mean  whereby  the  Body  of  Christ  is  received 
and  eaten  in  the  Supper  is  Faith."  But  just  as 
plainly  she  declares  that  "  sacraments  are  cer- 
tain sure  witnesses,  and  effectual  signs  of  grace, 
and  God's  good  will  toward  us,  by  the  which 
He  doth  work  invisibly  in  us,  and  doth  not 
only  quicken  but  also  strengthen  and  confirm 
our  Faith  in  Him."  Finally,  she  asserts  that 
"  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  not 
by  Christ's  ordinance  reserved,  carried  about, 
lifted  up,  or  worshipped." 

Let  these  quotations  suffice  to  exhibit  the 
salient  points  of  the  doctrine  which  this  Church 
has  gathered  from  Holy  Scripture  touching  this 
subject.  A  volume  and  not  a  lecture,  a  life- 
time and  not  an  hour,  were  needed  to  give  you 
the  barest  outline  of  the  scriptural  proof  and  of 
the  historical  development.  But  our  concern 
now  is  with  the  Ritual  in  which  this  doctrine 
shall  be  embodied,  and  of  the  permissibility  of 
departure  from  the  appointed  Order. 


156  Discrimination 


I  would  maintain,  first  of  all,  that  because 
there  is  legitimate  variety  of  opinion  about  the 
nature  and  efficacy  of  the  Sacrament,  that  there- 
fore there  shall  be  closest  conformity  to  the 
appointed  Order  ;  and  secondly,  I  would  plead 
that,  due  regard  being  paid  to  this  literal  re- 
quirement, there  shall  be  kindest  judgment  and 
self-compelled  silence  as  to  the  difference  of 
opinion.  But  I  hold  that  the  Church  should 
give  a  liberty  of  Ritual,  a  defined  and  regulated 
liberty,  corresponding  to  the  freedom  of  opin- 
ion which  she  has  accorded.  Why  shall  the 
arrangements  of  the  Ritual  of  even  this  most 
sacred  Office,  completed  in  a  time  of  turmoil  and 
confusion,  when  the  martyr  fires  still  smoul- 
dered, and  when  anxious  fear  still  trembled  lest 
the  old  enemy  should  regain  the  possession  from 
which  he  had  been  with  such  difficulty  expell- 
ed— why  shall  these  be  continued  of  necessity 
without  change,  for  us  who  "  were  free  born," 
who  ought  to  be  able  to  lookunappalled  at  the 
history  of  Papal  usurpation  and  of  scholastic 
dogmatizing,  and  stand  firm  in  the  old  paths  ? 
Especially  must   the  minute    directions  as  to 


as  to  Ritual.  157 

posture,  which  were  necessary  for  the  guidance 
of  every  motion  of  the  Rome-bred  priest,  to 
keep  him  out  of  the  rut  of  the  Roman  Missal — 
must  these  continue  to  be  a  burden  to  the  mind 
and  conscience  of  the  Priest  of  to-day,  who  is 
proudly  conscious  of  his  integrity,  and  intelli- 
gent loyalty  to  the  Church's  Standards  of  doc- 
trine ?  Must  these  remain  because  there  is  like 
danger  now,  as  in  the  old  time  ?  Then  let  them 
be  made  more  explicit,  and  impossible  of  misin- 
terpretation. Plainly,  even  in  this  Office  for 
the  administration  of  the  highest,  holiest  act  of 
our  worship,  we  need  more  detail  of  direction, 
or  less.  Either  take  away  these  petty  occasions 
of  rubrical  stumbling  and  fault-finding,  or  make 
them  of  such  rugged  prominence  that  the  blind- 
est will  see  them  and  avoid  ;  and  make  it  at 
the  same  time  impossible  for  the  ignorant  or 
careless  tripping  to  become  the  defence  of  the 
deliberate  masking  of  the  Church's  fair  face  by 
the  omission  or  the  addition  thus  justified. 
We  need  liturgical  enrichment,  for  we  need  li- 
turgical freedom,  which  is  wealth. 

Ritual  legislation,  rubrical  revision,  I  believe 


158  Discrim  ination 


to  be  the  crying  need  of  the  Church  to-day  ;  and 
I  hail  with  thankful  delight  the  appointment  and 
the  assembling  of  that  Commission  of  learned 
men  to  whom  this  matter  has  by  the  Church  been 
given  in  charge.  May  they  give  us  a  scheme 
which  shall  be,  first  of  all,  intelligible  by  all, 
and  of  no  easy  misinterpretation  ;  a  scheme 
which  shall  make  plainly  lawful  varied  services 
suited  to  the  differing  tastes  and  capacities  of 
our  people,  and  which  shall  make  as  plainly 
unlawful  the  denial  by  Ritual  act,  or  by  a  gar- 
bling of  the  words  of  worship,  of  the  truth  which 
we  have  as  Dogma  in  Articles,  and  in  Homilies 
as  Exhortation. 

Will  some  man  say  in  reply,  that  legislation 
is  dangerous  because  thereby  our  liberty  may 
be  made  less,  and  the  present  condition  is  bet- 
ter when  each  does  what  seemeth  him  good  ? 
Nay,  but  conscience  often  restrains  from  what 
judgment  esteems  expedient,  because  of  the 
Church's  law  ;  Bishops  must  do  by  connivance, 
or  by  supposed  inherent  right,  what  they  feel 
and  know  ought  to  be  done,  while  yet  they  feel 
and   know   as   well,    that   under  our  law  their 


as  to  Ritual.  159 


right  to  make  alteration  in  the  established 
Order,  save  on  certain  specified  occasions  and 
under  certain  specified  circumstances,  is  no 
more  than  that  of  the  humblest  Presbyter. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  faculty  of  individual 
revision,  given  by  supposed  general  consent, 
by  recognized  laxity  of  the  law,  may  be  exer- 
cised after  this  fashion  in  shortening  the  form 
of  exhortation  giving  notice  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Holy  Communion — omit  the  words 
"  to  be  by  them  received  in  remembrance  of 
His  meritorious  cross  and  passion,"  and  thus 
make  the  Church  declare  that  it  is  the  most 
comfortable  sacrament  of  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ,  .  .  .  whereby  alone  we  obtain 
remission  of  our  sins  and  are  made  partakers  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

I  say  therefore  that  we  need  legislation  in 
the  interest  of  liberty — liberty  in  all  directions 
for  the  truth's  expression — that  the  consciences 
of  good  men  may  have  relief,  that  obstructions 
in  the  path  of  the  Church's  progress  among 
Americans  may  be  removed,  and  that  honest 
misinterpretation  concerning  non-essentials,  or 


1 60  Discrim  inat  ion 


lazy  indifference  as  to  rules  of  mere  propriety, 
may  no  longer  give  occasion  for  the  justified 
expression  of  misinterpretation,  honest  or  dis- 
honest, ignorant  or  designing,  concerning  things 
essential  and  vital. 

To  return  for  illustration  to  the  Ritual  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  which  as  the  central  act  of  our 
public  worship,  as  the  Liturgy  proper,  will  ever 
determine  the  characteristics  of  the  mode  in 
which  other  sacred  offices  will  be  celebrated, 
is  any  increase  of  liberty  possible  here  ?  How 
shall  there  not  be,  in  view  of  the  wide  compre- 
hension by  the  Article,  of  theories  having  in 
common  only  the  acceptance  of  the  fact  that 
He  who  gave  His  Son  to  die  for  our  sins  hath 
also  given  Him  "to  be  our  spiritual  food  and 
sustenance  in  that  Holy  Sacrament"  ;  the  de- 
nial of  Presence  other  than  spiritual  and  heav- 
enly ;  the  affirmation  that  "  Faith  is  the  mean 
whereby  the  Body  of  Christ  is  received  .and 
eaten,"  and  the  repudiation  of  reservation, 
carrying  about,  lifting  up,  and  worshipping,  as 
in  any  sense  proper  accessories  to  the  act  of 
Communion  ? 


as  to  Ritual.  161 


Grant  that  to  me  the  Office  in  our  Prayer 
Book  for  the  administration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion is  not  only  most  precious  heritage  which 
I  have  received  from  my  fathers,  is  not  only 
hallowed  by  the  recollections  of  my  childhood's 
awe,  and  by  the  tenderest  associations  of  my 
life,  but  also  that  it  contains  for  me  fullest  ex- 
pression, inmost  perfect  proportion,  of  the  truths 
wrapped  up  in  that  one  peculiar  act  of  Chris- 
tian devotion  ;  grant  that  therefore  I  find  full- 
est benefit  and  highest  spiritual  pleasure  in  the 
administration  of  the  ordinance  just  as  it  is 
there  set  down,  in  every  least  particular  ;  is  it 
therefore  certain  that  this  must  be  true  of  all 
men  ?  Can  I  not  understand  that,  from  one 
cause  or  another,  difference  of  taste  or  of  habit 
of  mind,  a  shorter  form  may  be  more  helpful  to 
others  ;  or  at  the  least,  that  they  may  honestly 
long  for  the  liberty  for  its  curtailment  on  occa- 
sion ?  What  parish  clergyman  has  not  felt  the 
need  for  such  liberty  of  shortening  this  Service 
for  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  the  dying,  who, 
earnestly  desirous  to  receive  this  visible  mate- 
rial pledge  of  the  Saviour's  love,  can  yet  only 


62  Discrimination 


with  most  painful  difficulty  undergo  the  fatigue 
of  body  and  mind  necessary  to  intelligent  par- 
ticipation in  the  entire  Office  ? 

Again,  why  shall  the  musical  taste  and  skill, 
largely  developed  in  one  congregation,  be  shut 
up  to  that  measure  of  musical  utterance,  as  is 
perhaps  a  requirement  all  beyond  the  capacity 
of  comfortable  rendering  possessed  by  another  ? 
Why  shall  not  the  idea  of  mystery,  which  con- 
fessedly is  Inherent  in  this  act  of  worship,  be 
fully  set  forth  in  the  Ritual  of  those  to  whom 
this  thought  is  fullest  of  helpful  blessing,  pro- 
vided only  that  safeguards  protect  from  the  rep- 
resentation of  any  Presence  other  than  spiritual 
and  heavenly  ?  And  why  shall  a  Service,  whose 
words  are  often  unmeaning,  and  its  construc- 
tion unappreciated,  be  the  compulsory  perform- 
ance of  simple-minded  ignorance  which  comes 
to  the  "breaking  of  bread,"  as  possibly  the 
earliest  disciples  came,  simply  to  remember, 
and  to  be  helped  to  remember,  the  death  that 
was  died  for  them,  and  to  whom  the  idea  of 
mystery  being  connected  with  what  they  do  is 
inconceivable  ? 


as  to  Ritual.  163 


Is  it  helpful  to  some  to  have  the  sacrificial 
aspect  of  the  Lord's  Supper  made  prominent, 
the  showing  of  the  Lord's  death  unto  the  Eter- 
nal Father,  and  the  pleading  in  act  of  the 
merits  of  His  cross  and  passion,  even  as  in 
words  they  make  petition,  "  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  why  shall  it  not  be  made  ex- 
plicitly lawful,  and  in  being  made  lawful  the 
"  showing  forth"  be  so  ordered,  that  not  by 
any  possibility  "  the  dangerous  fable  and  blas- 
phemous deceit"  of  a  propitiatory  sacrifice 
may  find  a  lodgment  in  the  mind  or  heart  of 
the  worshipper  ? 

"  No  one,''  says  Prebendary  Sadler,  "  unless 
he  believes  that  Christ  can  die  over  and  over 
again,  can  hold  that  the  sacrificial  action  of  the 
Eucharist  is  in  its  essence  more  than  commem- 
orative, and  no  one  can  hold  that  it  is  less."  * 
"  No  matter  how  differently  they  may  ex- 
press themselves,"  he  says,  immediately  before 
the  passage  above  quoted,  "  the  Ultramontane 
and   the   ultra  -  Protestant,    when    their  words 

*  Liturgies  and    Ritual,    "The   Church  and  the  Age," 
p.  281. 


1 64  Di scrim  i  nation 


come  to  be  sifted,  are  here  at  one."  But  if 
the  word  "  express"  in  the  last  sentence  may 
be  made  to  include  Ritual  action  as  well  as 
spoken  forms  of  belief,  the  statement  mani- 
festly is  not  true,  for  with  pain  and  shame  be  it 
confessed,  in  these  days  of  lawless  individual- 
ism, in  which  some  of  us  are  supposed  to  re- 
joice, there  may  be  found  Priests  ministering 
under  the  authority  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  whose  expression  of  sacrificial  act  can 
with  difficulty  be  distinguished,  by  an  unedu- 
cated eye,  from  that  of  him  who  blasphemously 
deceives  the  people  with  claim  to  offer  sacrifice, 
which  is  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  living 
and  the  dead. 

But  finally  on  this  point,  shall  provision  be 
made,  ought  provision  to  be  made,  in  our  Rit- 
ual law  for  liberty  to  express  our  homage  to 
the  Divine  Humanity  come  after  the  words  of 
Priestly  consecration,  to  the  tabernacle  of  bread 
and  wine,  because  many  (shall  I  say  "  many"  ?) 
assert  that  the  highest  blessing  they  receive  at 
the  Holy  Communion  is  in  the  worship  of  the 
Present  Christ  ?     The  answer  is  inevitable,  that 


as  to  Ritual.  165 


there  cannot  be  given  liberty  for  the  expression 
of  a  worship  which  the  Church  in  her  formulary 
of  doctrine  has  pronounced  unlawful.  And  yet 
ceremonial  is  to-day  a  regular  use  in  churches 
of  this  Communion — ceremonial  which  means 
this  if  it  means  anything,  but  which  Bishops 
are  powerless  to  stop,  because  it  cannot  be 
canon \ca.\\y  proven  that  it  symbolizes  "  errone- 
ous or  doubtful  doctrines. " 

For  example,  how  can  it  ever  be  proven  that 
the  elements  in  the  Holy  Communion  have 
been  elevated  "  in  such  manner  as  to  expose 
them  to  the  view  of  the  people,  as  objects 
toward  which  adoration  is  to  be  made''  ?  And 
yet,  is  it  not  notorious  that  such  elevation  as 
has  been  practiced  does  to  the  average  beholder 
symbolize  a  Presence  that  is  worshipped,  and 
ought  to  be  worshipped  ? 

Again,  says  the  author  of  the  Essay  on  ' '  Litur- 
gies and  Ritual,"  from  which  I  already  quoted  : 
"  It  is  clear  that  Jerome  excuses  the  lighting  of 
lamps  in  the  day  time  as  a  pardonable  weak- 
ness. .  .  .  He  mentions  at  the  conclusion  of 
his  remarks  on  this  matter  that    the  Oriental 


1 66  Discrimination 


Church  lighted  lamps — not  however  at  the 
Consecration,  but  at  the  reading  of  the  Gospels, 
at  which  time  common-sense  seems  to  teach 
us  that  if  lighted  candles  be  used  symbolically 
at  all,  they  are  far  more  appropriate,  for  there 
must  be  a  certain  order  and  discrimination  in 
symbolical  teaching.  . .  .  .  Again,  if  we 
look  to  the  Eucharist  as  a  sacrificial  commem- 
oration, candles  seem  altogether  out  of  place, 
for  they  have  nothing,  even  remotely,  to  do 
with    sacrifice."* 

Shall  we,  too,  not  suffer  the  candles  to  cast 
their  pale  light  upon  this  act  of  our  worship, 
excusing  their  use  "as  a  pardonable  weak- 
ness" ?  But  alas  !  no  matter  that  as  symbol 
they  have  no  fitness  for  such  service,  and  are 
absolutely  insignificant,  yet  to  the  average 
American  mind  they  symbolize  Romanism,  and 
deny  the  witness  for  which  the  Reformers  went 
gladly  to  the  stake  that  they  might  there  light 
that  candle  which,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  must 
take  care  shall  never  be  put  out. 

So,  too,  of   the  use   of  incense,  which,  even 

*  Liturgies  and  Ritual,  the  Church  and  the  Age,  p.  308. 


as  to  Ritual.  167 


according  to  Roman  Catholic  decision,  has  no 
symbolical  or  dogmatic  bearing  whatever  with 
respect  to  the  Eucharist,  for  the  Mass  is  in  the 
vast  majority  of  cases  celebrated  without  it. 
Yet  is  it  not  true  that  to  the  mind  of  our 
countrymen  and  of  our  age  it  is  not  the  symbol 
of  acceptable  prayer  but  of  Roman  worship  ? 

In  respect  to  the  chalice  of  mingled  water 
and  wine,  perhaps  the  same  difficulty  might 
arise  were  the  act  of  mingling  a  part  of  the 
public  Service,  and  not,  as  always  in  the  ancient 
time,  done  in  private  before  the  solemnity  be- 
gins. Surely  no  one  can  object  that  the  lover 
of  symbolism  shall  thus  recall  to  mind  the 
double  stream  which  flowed  from  the  wounded 
side. 

So,  too,  in  my  judgment,  about  what  are 
called  the  "  sacrificial  vestments"  ;  if  it  please 
the  Priest  or  his  people  that  he  wear  them,  who 
shall  object,  for  most  assuredly  we  have  no  law 
to  guide,  and  the  people — I  mean  the  people 
who  are  not  of  us,  but  whom  we  are  sent  to 
win, — find  just  as  little,  and  just  as  much  cause 
for  wonder  in  the  alb  and  chasuble,  as  in   the 


1 68  Discrim  ination 


surplice,  and  possibly  a  colored  stole  evokes 
their  surprise  no  more  than  a  black  one. 

Am  I  talking  of  things  indifferent,  things 
unworthy  of  your  thought  and  mine  ?  Nay,  is 
it  beneath  us  to  consider  even  the  smallest 
causes  of  division  in  our  Body,  and  of  slackened 
speed  in  our  advance  to  occupy  the  land  ? 

But  do  I  seem  to  be  advocating  the  liberty  of 
only  those  with  whom  I  may  be  supposed  most 
nearly  to  agree  ?  God  forbid  that  it  be  so  ! 
No,  I  only  assert  that  Ritual  must  be  ex- 
pression of  Doctrine,  that  the  limits  of  the  one 
determine  those  of  the  other,  only  these,  but 
certainly  these.  I  believe  that  because  of  the 
lack  of  sufficient  definition  these  limits  are 
overstepped,  and  the  truth  receives  the  hurt. 
And  yet  I  believe  that  there  is  abundant  room 
for  the  gratification  of  every  taste,  and  the 
symbolizing  of  every  phase  of  the  accepted 
doctrine.  Timid,  it  may  be  morbid,  conscience 
is  restrained,  and  the  bolder  rushes  to  trans- 
gression— it  may  be  of  mere  Order,  it  may  be 
of  Order  involving  doctrine — and  straightway 
there  is  accusing  and  excusing.      Diocesan  au- 


as  to  Ritual.  169 


thority  is  silent  because  powerless,  or  if  it  speaks 
its  sense  of  the  radical  difference  between  of- 
fences, sincere  conviction  sometimes,  and  some- 
times disingenuous  evasion,  makes  clamor  of 
persecution  and  partisanship.  Such  our  con- 
dition :  is  there  not  a  cause  that  we  seek  its 
improvement  ? 

But  I  know  that  answer  will  be  made  to 
much  that  I  have  been  saying,  somewhat  as 
follows  :  The  people  must  be  educated,  the 
Prayer  Book  must  be  their  educator,  and  their 
ignorance  must  not  be  suffered  to  be  the  gauge 
of  the  Forms  of  devotion  we  offer  them. 

True,  that  the  Prayer  Book  is  a  mighty  edu- 
cator ;  true,  that  as  a  missionary  it  has  done 
great  work  among  the  poorest  and  the  most 
illiterate,  and  yet  equally  true  it  is  that  only 
by  the  application  of  the  Rubric  of  common- 
sense  has  its  educating  influence  ever  been 
brought  to  bear. 

But  in  regard  to  those  points  to  which  I 
have  made  special  reference  —  namely,  the 
different  aspects  of  the  Holy  Communion,  the 
people  can  be  but  very  slowly  lifted   up  to  the 


170  Discrimination 


conceptions  which  are  set  forth,  often  only  by 
suggestion,  in  the  Liturgy  ;  lifted  up  from  the 
idea  of  mere  sympathetic  remembrance  to  the 
realization  of  spiritual  communion.  I  would 
give  liberty  for  the  employment  of  means  to 
help  this  uplifting,  chiefly  by  the  shortening  of 
the  Service.  But,  mark  you,  however  far  they 
may  have  attained,  the  masses  of  our  people 
will  never  be  rid,  and  they  ought  never  to  be 
rid,  of  their  horror  of  Rome  and  its  enslaving 
system.  You  cannot  educate  them  into  toler- 
ance of  the  similitude  of  Roman  ritual,  and  it 
is  worse  than  a  mistake — it  is  a  crime — for  the 
sake  of  a  blind  aesthetic  devotion  to  a  symbol- 
ism which  Rome  has  degraded,  and  which  only 
by  largest  explanation  can  ever  be  made  to  do 
honor  to  the  truth,  to  risk  the  repelling  from 
the  Catholic  Church,  and  still  more  from  the 
Catholic  truth  of  the  Gospel,  men  and  women 
who  can  see  only  Romanism  in  the  genuflexion 
and  prostration,  the  burning  candle  and  the 
smoking  censer. 

Shall  I  be  told  that  like  mistake  and  prepos- 
session oppose  the  introduction  of  any  liturgi- 


as  to  Ritual.  171 


cal  form,  and  that  the  people  we  must  teach 
are  equally  scandalized  by  surpliced  Choir  and 
Priest,  by  written  sermon  and  cross-capped 
spire  ?  I  answer,  a  mistake  and  prepossession 
in  regard  to  all  our  peculiarities  does  stand 
in  the  way,  but  not  of  like  character  or  of 
equal  strength.  The  mental  inertia  and  bodily 
sloth  of  men  will  always  be  reasons  for  unwill- 
ingness to  take  part  in  a  religious  worship  in- 
volving bodily  and  mental  activity,  and  these 
natural  instincts  have  been  cultivated  to  the 
utmost  by  the  forms,  or  want  of  forms,  of  wor- 
ship, in  which  the  larger  part  of  our  countrymen 
have  been  educated.  But  their  love  of  the 
ease  they  have  been  accustomed  to  enjoy  is 
not  like  their  love  of  the  truth  of  the  risen 
Christ  in  which  they  have  learned  to  believe  ; 
their  antipathy  to  ''prayers  out  of  a  book"  is 
not  like  their  hatred  of  Roman  arrogance  and 
monkery,  which  are  to  their  minds  all  repre- 
sented in  the  mysterious  movements  of  the 
Priest  at  his  Altar. 

But   I   believe   that   the    Book    of    Common 
Prayer,  as  I   have  already   suggested,    is,    not- 


1 72  Discrim  mat  ion 


withstanding  our  lost  opportunities  and  our 
suicidal  want  of  harmony,  a  very  magnet  which 
is  attracting  toward  our  Communion  multitudes 
of  that  ever  -  increasing  number  of  educated 
people  in  our  land,  and  that  it  is  beloved  as 
their  only  teacher  by  men  and  women  every- 
where, to  whom  the  advantages  of  other  instruc- 
tion were  never  given.  There  is  no  insuperable 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  educating  the  people  up 
to  this  highest  form  of  the  public  worship  of 
God,  if  it  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  heaven,  Whom  we  ask  them  to 
worship,  and  there  be  not  a  suspicion  that 
prayer  and  praise  are  to  be  addressed  to  One 
who  is  brought  near  to  them  by  the  working  of 
ecclesiastical  miracle. 

And  now,  for  a  very  little  while,  suffer  me  to 
speak  touching  the  liberty  to  be  accorded  in  the 
performance  of  divine  worship  other  than  that 
in  the  administration  of  the  Eucharist.  Be- 
cause the  most  precious  jewel  of  our  treasure- 
house  is  therein  deposited,  our  anxiety  will  be 
most  cautious  as  to  any  proposed  changes  in 
the  setting,  lest  thereby  the  rays  of  truth  from 


as  to  Ritual.  173 


some  one  of  the  many  sides  shall  not  be  re- 
flected, and  the  blessing  they  bring  be  lost. 
This  danger  cannot  be  so  great  in  any  other 
case,  and  our  conservative  timidity  cannot  so 
readily  find  excuse. 

Thank  God,  the  days  are  past  when  every 
Clergyman  felt  bound  in  good  conscience  to  be- 
gin with  "  Dearly  beloved  brethren"  at  every 
meeting  of  Christians,  and  no  matter  what  the 
emergency,  to  go  straight  through  to  the  Apos- 
tolic grace  before  a  word  of  exhortation  could 
be  spoken,  or  even  a  pressing  question  of  Par- 
ish business  discussed  !  And  yet  the  binding 
rules  are  just  as  tightly  fastened,  and  even  at 
our  last  General  Convention  there  was  refusal 
on  the  part  of  one  branch  of  our  legislature  to 
consent  to  any  loosening. 

Everybody  -Bishop,  Priest,  Deacon,  and  Lay- 
man— knows  very  well  that  the  Order  for  Daily 
Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  is  not  said  daily 
in  many  churches,  and  ought  not  to  be  said 
daily,  under  present  circumstances.  Everybody 
knows  just  as  well  that  the  appointed  routine 
of  service  is  not  followed,  ahvays  "  before  all 


74  Discrimination 


sermons  and  lectures,"  and  that  it  ought  not 
to  be.  And  yet  there  is  the  law  upon  the 
statute-book,  a  brutum  fulmen,  serving  no  pur- 
pose but  to  bring  into  disrepute  the  Vulcan 
who  forged  it,  and  the  Jupiter  by  whose  hand 
it  was  hurled.  No,  I  mistake  ;  it  serves  other 
purpose  as  well  :  it  is  a  burden  to  the  con- 
science of  some  good  men,  under  which  they 
stagger  in  their  going  to  and  fro  with  the  mes- 
sage of  salvation  ;  and,  worse  still,  in  being  the 
demand  for  an  impracticable  conformity,  it  is 
the  suggestion  of  an  untrammelled  license,  and 
so  of  an  equalization  of  all  offences  against  its 
terms.  We  need  clearly  settled  liberty  in  the 
non-essentials  of  our  worship,  for  the  very  pro- 
tection of  that  which  is  most  sacred  and  most 
precious. 

Now,  granting  that  the  Church's  doctrine  is 
safely  guarded  in  her  Sacramental  Offices,  as  to 
which  liberty  of  use  must  be  granted  with 
greater  caution,  why  shall  the  ordained  Presby- 
ter of  this  Church,  the  man  who  has  passed  the 
ordeal  of  entrance,  and  has  sworn  the  oaths  of 
faithful  ministration  of  doctrine  and  discipline 


as  to  Ritual.  175 


and  worship — why  shall  he  not  be  trusted  with 
a  discretion  as  to  the  doings  at  the  ordinary 
assemblings  of  his  people  for  prayer  and  praise  ; 
and  still  more,  when  he  goes  as  Missionary  to 
minister  to  those  to  whom  our  ancient  forms  of 
devotion  are  new  and  strange  ;  who,  it  may  be, 
never  saw  a  Prayer  Book,  and  seeing  it  could 
not  read  nor  understand  it  ?  We  cannot  but 
assume  that  he  will  love  best  to  worship  in  the 
appointed  Order,  and  that  like  disposition  will 
be  characteristic  of  the  regularly  organized  Con- 
gregation of  the  Church.  We  must  assume 
also  that  the  Minister  will  not  run  counter  to 
the  wishes  of  his  people  in  this  matter.  Now, 
grant  that  the  law  shall  suffer  no  departure 
from  the  prescribed  form  at  Services  on  the 
Lord's  Day  in  places  duly  set  apart  for  the 
celebration  of  Divine  Service,  yet  why  shall  not 
the  Minister  be  given  explicit  discretion  to  do 
what  he  finds  most  expedient  on  other  and  ex- 
traordinary occasions  ?  I  will  go  so  far  as  to 
ask,  what  result  other  than  good  can  come  from 
the  social  informal  meeting  of  Churchmen  for 
prayer  and  praise,   under  the  presidency  and 


I  j6  Discrimination 


direction  of  the  educated  ordained  servant  of 
the  Church,  even  though  no  official  robe  shall 
distinguish  the  Elder  from  his  brethren,  and  the 
words  which  are  spoken  to  the  All-hearing 
Father  are  but  the  crude,  spontaneous  utterance 
which  tries  to  tell  the  thoughts  and  desires  of 
the  heart  ?  You  answer  that  the  disgraceful 
scenes  witnessed  at  such  gatherings  are  suf- 
ficient, more  than  sufficient,  reason  for  our 
refusal  to  permit  other  than  liturgical  worship 
on  any  occasion,  and  ought  to  be  rebuke  of  the 
suggestion  of  its  allowance.  And  I  rejoin  that 
perhaps  the  Church's  failure  to  direct  and  con- 
trol these  natural  manifestations  of  the  social 
religious  feeling,  which  must  be  ancient,  prim- 
itive, Apostolic,  because  they  are  natural,  may 
be  explanation  of  their  degradation,  because 
suffered  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  incompetency  ; 
as  it  may  also  be  one  explanation  of  how  the 
Church  came  to  lose  the  privilege  of  being  the 
religious  educator  of  the  masses.  Further,  I 
must  add  that  in  many  Congregations  of  this 
Church  throughout  the  land,  which  have  been 
distinguished  for  largest  possession  of  mission- 


as  to  Ritual.  177 


ary  zeal  and  activity,  this  agency  has  been  em- 
ployed with  mighty  effect  by  the  Minister,  de- 
spite the  prohibitions  of  the  Canon. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  there  be,  as  undoubt- 
edly there  are,  a  large  number  of  men  and 
women  in  the  Church,  equally  earnest  in  their 
devotion  to  their  Lord,  who  are  best  pleased 
and  most  helped  to  worship  God  with  elaborate 
ceremonial  ;  who  would  have  the  Choir  and 
Clergy  approach  the  sacred  place  in  solemn 
procession,  marching  under  the  standard  of  the 
uplifted  cross,  and  singing,  as  they  march,  the 
song  of  exultant  victorious  hope  ;  who  love 
best  that  prayers  be  sung  in  restful  monotone, 
and  that  the  shouted  "  Amens"  speed  their 
flight  to  the  throne — why  shall  they  be  forbid- 
den thus  to  offer  the  sacrifice  of  their  lips  ? 

But  further,  and  most  important  of  all,  I  ask, 
why  shall  the  worshipper  at  the  Prayer-meet- 
ing, rather  than  the  worshipper  at  the  Choral 
Service,  be  denounced  as  "  no-churchman,"  or 
vice  versa,  when  of  the  plain  letter  of  our  law 
each  Service  is  as  palpable  violation  as  the 
other  ?     Herein,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  one  larg- 


178  Discrimination 

est  evil  of  our  present  condition,  that  Church- 
manship  is  being  measured  by  a  rule  which  has 
no  possible  application,  and  that  ignorance  or 
inconsiderateness  is  busy  imputing  disloyalty 
because  of  mere  difference  of  interpretation,  or 
of  taste,  or  of  judged  expediency.  I  would 
that  in  every  one  of  our  great  cities  there  might 
be  a  Church  wherein  the  Service  should  be  ren- 
dered with  all  the  adjuncts  of  ritual  beauty  and 
glory,  and  yet  wherein  the  keenest  scrutiny  of 
partisan  anxiety  could  discover  no  feature  of  any 
system  save  purest  "  Evangelicalism,"  that  so 
the  mind  of  all  our  people  might  be  disabused 
of  the  impression  that  Choral  music  is  the 
necessary  vehicle  of  one  particular  phase  of 
Church  doctrine,  and  that  the  churchmanship 
of  a  Minister  is  to  be  determined  by  the  pro- 
portion in  which  singing  and  reading  are 
mingled  in  his  Service. 

And  so  I  would  that  in  every  city  some  of 
the  men  who  are  recognized  as  "  extreme" 
in  their  churchmanship  would  inaugurate  the 
social,  informal  Prayer-meeting,  as  one  agency 
of  their  manifold  activity,  that  the  false  union 


as  to  Ritual.  179 


between  a  form  of  prayer  and  a  system  of  doc- 
trine might  be  proven  arbitrary  and  unreal  ;  for 
so  I  believe  one  large  occasion  for  stumbling, 
one  mighty  provocative  to  harsh  judgment  and 
evil  speaking,  were  taken  away. 

Of  course  I  know  very  well  that  this  has 
been  done  long  ago  in  the  Church  of  England, 
and  that  their  disagreements  in  regard  to  Rit- 
ual are  still  fiercer  than  ours.  Perhaps,  I  ven- 
ture to  say,  the  connection  between  Church 
and  State  enters  there  as  controlling  factor  to 
disturb  the  solution  of  the  problem,  which  is 
possible  to  us,  as  certainly  the  extreme  results 
of  their  disagreement,  which  will  now  intensify 
its  bitterness  and  make  less  possible  its  heal- 
ing, can  never  be  seen  in  America.  But,  mark 
you,  those  results  are  from  alleged  violations 
of  the  integrity  of  the  Church's  truth,  and  not 
of  mere  Order. 

I  know,  too,  that  answer  will  be  made  to 
my  words,  that  the  tendency  of  such  allowed 
liberty  is  dangerous.  The  lover  of  ritual- 
observance  will  fear  that  people  permitted 
ever  to  worship  without  its   restraints  will   at 


8o  Discrimination 


last  find  them  irksome  at  all  times.  And  he 
who  believes  in  only  simplest  form  will  dread 
lest  Choral  Service  lead  directly  and  inevitably 
to  eucharistic  adoration.  Ah,  friends !  the 
argument  from  tendency,  the  argument  from 
our  fears,  will  put  effectual  stop  to  all  progress, 
and  be  prohibition  of  all  liberty.  The  tend- 
ency of  a  republic,  the  political  philosophers 
tell  us,  and  history  seems  to  prove  it,  is  toward 
mob  rule  and  communism  ;  and  yet  that  tend- 
ency we  have  withstood  for  a  century,  and  the 
outlook  is  fairer  than  ever  before  in  man's  po- 
litical history  for  centuries  more  of  well-regu- 
lated liberty,  without  the  presence  of  a  stand- 
ing army  or  the  accumulation  of  a  centralized 
power. 

The  tendency  of  Low-Churchmen,  we  have 
been  hearing  all  our  lifetime,  is  toward  Geneva, 
and  that  of  their  High-Church  neighbors  toward 
Rome  ;  and  yet  they  dwell  together  now  more 
closely  than  perhaps  ever  before,  and  neither 
Calvin's  seat  nor  Leo's  is  crowded  with  the 
tendency-driven  exiles.  Certainly  tendencies 
exist  in  every  organism,  toward  one  point  or 


as  to  Ritual.  181 


another  of  development,  but  not  always  so 
irresistible  as  to  make  proper  that  freedom 
be  destroyed  lest  they  be  suffered  to  become 
operative,  the  freedom  which  is  necessary  that 
the  organism  may  accomplish  its  proper  func- 
tions, and  be  a  joy  and  not  a  sorrow  to  itself. 

But,  further  :  natural  tendency,  restrained 
unlawfully,  in  the  judgment  of  him  who  feels 
the  repression,  is  thereby  quickened  into  more 
eager  pursuit  of  its  extreme  result.  If  I  am 
ever  being  taunted  with  the  reproach  that  I  be- 
long to  Geneva  or  to  Rome,  it  will  be  but  nat- 
ural for  me  to  constantly  make  nearer  approach 
to  my  asserted  final  resting-place. 

Therefore  I  urge  that  while  our  liberty  con- 
tinues undefined,  we  shall  use  nicest  discrimi- 
nation in  forming  our  judgments  and  in  stating 
them.  For  the  man  who  as  steward  gives  to 
the  hungry  household  a  stone  instead  of  the 
bread  the  Great  Householder  has  provided,  and 
by  disingenuous  artifice  persuades  its  accept- 
ance, for  his  actions  we  can  make  no  excuse, 
save  only  that  charity  shall  strive  to  hope  "  all 
things"  of  possible  explanation,  and  to  believe 


82  Discrimination 


"  all  things"  of  possible  ignorance,  rather  than 
believe  that  consciously  he  is  violating  his 
vow,  "  to  instruct  the  people  committed  to  his 
charge,  out  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  teach 
nothing  as  necessary  to  eternal  salvation,  but 
what  he  is  persuaded  may  thereby  be  concluded 
and  proved."  To  ritual  act  which  teaches  the 
unlearned,  however  it  may  be  explained  to  the- 
ologians, that  the  Sacrament  is  a  sacrifice  pro- 
pitiatory for  the  sins  of  the  living  and  the 
dead,  and  that  men  must  adore  Christ  present 
on  the  Altar  under  the  form  of  bread  and  wine, 
we  can,  as  loyal  Churchmen,  give  nor  counte- 
nance nor  consent  ;  and  to  the  omission  of 
word  or  deed,  which  shall  put  partisan  inter- 
pretation upon  the  Church's  Offices,  which  are 
the  Articles  of  our  concord,  we  can  give  only 
distinctest  disapprobation. 

But  in  reference  to  the  multitude  of  varia- 
tions in  the  conduct  of  our  public  worship,  not 
possibly,  or  certainly  not  plainly,  involving  de- 
nial or  obscuring  of  vital  truth,  variations  in 
general  wholly  dependent  upon  the  taste  and 
habits  of  the  worshippers,  let  us  learn  to    be 


as  to  Ritual.  183 


tolerant  and  silent  if  we  cannot  learn  to  even 
courteously  conform  to  the  innocent,  though  to 
us  novel  customs  of  those  whose  worship  we 
have  joined. 

The  time  will  come  when  things  now  by 
many  esteemed  unwarrantable  shall  be  ex- 
plicitly authorized,  and  so  terms  of  reproach 
now  often  spoken  will  have  their  occasion  taken 
away.  Churchmanship  will  be  shown  some 
day  to  have  no  connection  with,  or  proper 
measure  in,  questions  of  insignificant  cere- 
mony. Things  new  and  old  we  will  be  suffered 
to  bring  out  of  the  ritual  treasure,  equally  val- 
uable whether  new  or  old,  if  they  are  efficient 
to  excite  and  to  express  the  true  worship  of 
the  Father  for  the  men  of  our  time  ;  and 
equally  worthless,  whether  new  or  old,  if  unfit- 
ted for  profitable  use  by  our  countrymen. 

Till  then  we  must  be  governed  as  to  these 
matters  by  an  enlightened  Church  opinion  ;  let 
us  use  wise  discrimination  in  its  formation. 
Let  us  always  remember  that  our  worship  is 
first  to  proclaim  what  is  true,  decreed  to  be 
true  by  the   authority   to   which   we   owe   and 


84  Discrimination 


have  professed  subjection  ;  it  is  to  be  the  com- 
mon expression  of  the  common  belief  ;  and 
then,  that  for  it  there  is  due  and  prescribed 
Order,  to  be  interpreted  by  common-sense. 
Therefore,  there  will  be  an  analogy  to  which 
our  judgments  must  conform  in  estimating  the 
enormity  of  departures  from  that  rule.  I  do 
plead  earnestly  that  this  analogy  receive  due 
consideration,  for  by  its  disregard  the  weight 
of  our  judgment  with  those  whom  we  wish  to 
influence  is  made  nil. 

To  place  on  the  same  level,  for  example,  the 
mere  ornamentation  which  a  florid  taste  enjoys, 
and  the  prostration  or  other  posture  which  un- 
gracefully announces  the  supernatural  Pres- 
ence to  be  worshipped  ;  to  seem  to  look  upon 
the  Choral  singing  of  the  Service  as  part  and 
parcel  of  a  system  whose  corner-stone  is  at  the 
seven-hilled  city  ;  to  lazily  consent  that  the 
refusal  to  pronounce  the  Church's  declaration 
of  new  life  and  new  hope  to  the  waiting  heart 
of  the  mother  whose  child  has  been  baptized, 
is  only  on  a  par  with  the  failure  to  read  all  of 
the  long  exhortation  each  time  the  Holy  Com- 


as  to  Ritual.  185 


munion  is  administered  ;  this  is  to  destroy  the 
value  of  our  judgment  with  those  who  seek  it, 
and  to  drive  the  inquirer  to  inconsiderate  ac- 
ceptance of  all  as  alike  good,  because  we  have 
taken  away  the  distinction,  by  our  assertion 
that  they  are  alike  evil. 

I  believe,  after  some  opportunity  for  ex- 
amination of  the  question,  which  opportunity 
I  have  tried  to  improve,  that  perhaps  a 
majority,  certainly  a  large  proportion  of  the 
regular  attendants  upon  the  services  of  the  few 
ultra-ritualistic  Churches  in  this  country,  are 
quite  indifferent  to  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics of  the  doctrine  therein  taught.  Some 
of  these  persons  attend  a  Church  of  this  kind 
because  it  is  free,  and  a  larger  number  because 
of  the  hearty  Congregational  Choral  worship 
which  they  enjoy.  They  love  the  sugar-coat- 
ing, and  take  the  drug  it  disguises,  in  many 
cases  without  any  appreciable  effect.  Remon- 
strance of  old  friends  against  their  adherence 
to  the  party  they  have  joined  is  often  met  in 
the  way  I  have  just  now  indicated.  The  mode 
of  Service  they  find  a  comfort  and  a  blessing, 


86  Discrimination 


and  the  other  peculiarities  cannot  be  evil,  if,  as 
decided  by  the  judgment  of  the  remonstrant, 
they  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  same  system, 
and  no  more  evil  than  the  Service  they  love. 

But  as  my  last  word,  I  entreat  that  discrim- 
ination may  be  our  companion  when  we  come 
to  deal  on  this  subject  with  the  newly  convinced 
hearer  who  would  confess  his  belief.  He  has 
learned  to  accept  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  ;  he 
would  call  upon  Him  in  Whom  he  has  be- 
lieved ;  he  would  join  the  Apostles'  fellowship, 
that  he  may  learn  more  of  their  doctrine  ;  he 
would  be  privileged  partaker  of  their  "  breaking 
of  bread  and  prayers."  About  him  are  men 
whom  he  sees  to  be  equally  active  in  the  work 
of  their  Master,  equally  influenced  by  "  the 
same  Spirit,"  but  among  them  there  are  wide 
"  differences  of  administration"  concerning 
these  things.  He  comes  to  ask  where  and 
with  whom  he  may  have  fellowship  in  the 
breaking  of  bread  and  prayers  :  what  answer 
shall  we  give  ?  Shall  I  fill  his  mind  with  par- 
tisan theories,  and  his  heart  with  suspicion  of 
my  brother  who  calls  upon  the  Lord  with  other 


as  to  Ritual.  187 


tones  than  mine,  or  who  breaks  the  bread,  as 
it  seems  to  me,  with  unbecoming  irreverence 
and  familiarity  ?  Shall  I  bid  him  beware  the 
Church  wherein  the  voices  of  white-robed  boys 
swell  the  pealing  anthem,  or  point  out  the 
"  unchurchliness"  of  the  irregular  performances 
in  the  Lecture-room  on  the  Wednesday  even- 
ing ?  God  help  us  to  be  wise  and  charitable, 
that  we  plant  not  the  seeds  of  ecclesiastical  hate  ! 
We  will  teach  the  young  disciple  what  we 
ourselves  believe  to  be  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus" — yes,  what  the  Scripture  plainly  asserts, 
or  what  the  Church  has  set  forth  ;  that  as  we 
understand  it,  we  must  teach  ;  but  for  the  rest, 
these  matters  of  taste,  these  adiaphora  of 
which  I  have  been  talking,  whose  discussion  is 
yet  so  fierce  that  in  its  din  the  Gospel  message 
is  sometimes  caused  to  be  inaudible,  God  help 
us  to  be  charitable  and  discriminating,  and  to 
teach  that  though  Ritual  may  and  often  does 
set  forth  another  Gospel  which  we  must  avoid, 
yet  that  the  believer  in  Jesus  may  worship 
Him,  with  equal  sincerity  and  equal  truth,  in 
many  different  modes. 


LECTURE    IV. 

Discrimination    as    to    Recreation    and 
Amusement. 


LECTURE    IV. 

DISCRIMINATION   AS   TO    RECREATION   AND 
AMUSEMENT. 

"  Who  gave  himself  for  us  that  He  might  redeem  us 
from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  Himself  a  peculiar  people 
zealous  of  good  works." — Titus  ii  :  14. 

QT.  PAUL  writes  to  the  Overseer  of  the 
^^  Church  in  Crete,  that  the  effect  of  believ- 
ing with  the  heart  and  confessing  with  the 
mouth  must  be  the  sanctification  of  the  believ- 
ing confessor.  He  says  that  the  indwelling 
Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  will  be  visibly  manifested 
in  a  conferred  peculiarity,  consisting  in  separa- 
tion from  iniquity  and  zealous  endeavor  after 
good  works.  Possibly  the  changed  value  of 
the  word  "  peculiar"  has  given  occasion  for  mis- 
understanding of  his  demand,  and  for  an  often 
absurd  effort  to  meet  it.  When  here  written 
as  the  full  equivalent  of  the  Apostle's  expres- 
sion,  the  word  signified    "  over  and    above," 


192  Discrimination 


"  occupying  position  separate  and. peculiar,  like 
one's  peculium  or  special  treasure."*  It  had 
not  then  acquired  its  new  but  natural  meaning 
of  "  singular  and  unlike  anything  else,"  and  the 
English  Christian  of  King  James'  day  was  as 
little  liable,  as  the  Cretan  to  whom  the  original 
letter  came,  to  be  deceived  into  supposing  that 
singularity  of  costume  or  of  speech  was  neces- 
sary part  of  the  peculiarity  which  is  made  up 
of  separation  from  sin  and  zeal  for -well-doing. 

It  seems  to  me  that  nowhere  has  this  error 
been  so  widely  prevalent,  and  nowhere  has  the 
misconception  lived  so  long,  as  in  the  sphere 
of  recreation  or  amusement,  and  the  words  of 
the  great  Teacher  of  the  Gentiles  furnish  fullest 
text  of  the  thoughts  about  these  matters  that  I 
would  present. 

I  said  in  my  first  Lecture  that  my  reason  for 
desiring  thus  to  apply  the  principle  of  necessary 
discrimination  in  this  department  is  that  I  be- 
lieve we  are,  in  reference  to  what  are  called 
"popular  amusements,"  standing  on  ground 
that  is  wholly  untenable.      And  I   believe  that 

*  Fairbairn,  "  Com."  in  loc. 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       193 


therefore  naturally  we  are  unable  to  persuade 
men  to  come  and  stand  with  us,  and  so  as  re- 
sult, because  no  refuge  is  offered  to  which  they 
can  consent  to  repair,  they  dwell  without  in 
unprotected  freedom  and  in  dangerous  un- 
restraint. Confessedly  the  condition  of  the 
Christian  Church,  using  the  word  Church  in  its 
largest  possible  application,  is  to-day  lament- 
able in  this  respect.  Christian  people  of  every 
name,  whether  educated  under  influences  of 
Puritan  severity  or  of  Catholic  liberality,  the 
descendants  of  the  adherents  of  Wesley's 
method,  and  I  almost  dare  to  say,  even  in  this 
community,  of  George  Fox's  complicated  sim- 
plicity, are  alike  with  one  accord  the  indiscrim- 
inate patrons  of  the  play-house  and  the  ball- 
room ;  and  the  exceptions  to  this  rule,  to  be 
found  in  any  Denomination  of  Christians,  are 
greeted  with  stare  of  surprise  at  their  pecu- 
liarity, like  that  which  once  opened  its  wide 
eyes  at  the  apparition  of  the  long  straight  coat 
and  the  broad-brimmed  hat  ;  and,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  young  beholder,  their  refusal  to 
conform  to  the  custom  of  the  day,  to   the  hab- 


194  Discrimination 


its  of  his  fashionable  society,  whatever  be  its 
grade,  is  just  as  unreasonable  and  its  exhibition 
as  absurd  as  was  the  refusal  of  those  old-time 
worthies  to  be  conformed  to  the  world  in  the 
garb  of  their  bodies  or  of  their  thoughts.  Of 
course  I  know  very  well  that  in  every  com- 
munity and  in  every  Denomination  of  Christian 
people  there  are  numerous  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  which  is  yet  increasingly  general,  but  they 
usually  belong  to  the  generation  rapidly  pass- 
ing away,  and  they  look  with  amazed  and  scorn- 
ful impotence  at  the  rushing  tide  which  they 
cannot  stop,  which  is  sweeping  away  all  the 
traditions  of  the  past.  If  the  children  of  their 
families  be  kept  during  childhood  within  the 
straitest  bounds  of  the  old-time  severity,  they 
can  but  grieve  to  recognize  that  only  this  com- 
pulsion is  the  efficient  restraint,  and  that  in  the 
heart  of  son  and  daughter  there  is  evidently  the 
complaining  sense  of  wrong,  that  in  their  life 
there  is  none  of  the  gayety  and  joy  which  make 
glad  the  life  of  their  companions.  And,  child- 
hood passed,  the  weight  of  parental  authority 
removed,  there  is  but  too   often   the  bound   of 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.        195 

the  released  spring  to  the  utmost  limit  of  pos- 
sible departure,  and  the  boyhood  of  enforced 
abstinence  becomes  in  a  day,  the  young  man- 
hood of  prodigal  pleasure.  I  do  not  know  that 
in  this  respect  our  age  is  peculiar  and  without 
predecessor  ;  perhaps  it  has  always  been  so  in 
the  history  of  mankind  ;  perhaps  the  swing  of 
the  pendulum  must  ever  be  the  fullest  illustra- 
tion of  the  development  of  our  race  ;  perhaps 
in  accordance  with  that  principle  we  in  America 
are  but  passing  through  the  period  of  the  Res- 
toration as  following  and  reacting  from  that  of 
the  Commonwealth,  in  that  the  accumulation 
of  wealth,  the  development  of  luxury,  now 
make  for  us  a  royal  leisure  which  must  be  filled 
with  the  new  delights  which  were  unknown  in 
the  early  days  of  our  country's  settlement,  and 
impossible  to  the  uncultivated  simplicity  of  the 
pioneer  period. 

I  think  that  it  may  be  both  interesting  and 
profitable  to  consider  for  a  little  while  the 
causes  of  this  our  present  condition  in  this 
regard,  for  in  discovering  the  causes  of  the 
disease  we  may  learn  something  of  the  remedy 


1 96  Discrim  inat  ion 


to   be   administered    with   best   hope   of   heal- 
ing. 

I  note  first,  then,  that  in  the  position  as- 
sumed, touching  this  matter  of  recreation  and 
amusement,  by  the  phase  of  Christianity  de- 
scribed as  "  Puritan,"  which  was  as  we  know 
the  peculiar  form  of  religion  first  established 
in  that  large  part  of  our  country  which  has  been 
perhaps  most  influential  in  giving  moral  and 
social  and  religious  complexion  to  the  whole 
land,  there  was  an  almost  ignoring  of  the  need 
for  amusement  innate  in  human  nature.  Let 
us  remember  that  this  religion  of  the  Indepen- 
dents was  the  stern  protest  of  men  of  faith  in 
unseen  realities,  against  the  degradation  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  into  a  principality  appended 
to  an  earthly  kingdom,  into  a  mere  Department 
of  State.  It  was  their  protest  against  the 
spiritual  worship  of  God  being  made  an  unreal 
ritual-drill  ;  their  protest  against  the  religion 
of  Jesus  being  a  solace  for  immoral  life,  pro- 
vided in  miracles  wrought  by  impure  hands  ; 
their  protest  against  the  enforced  acceptance  of 
a  creed,  a  worship,  a  ritual,  not  plainly  revealed 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       197 

of  God  ;  above  all,  it  was  their  protest  against 
a  tyrant  whose  shame  was  upheld  by  a  theory 
of  divine  right,  which  theory  was  part  of  the 
enforced  creed. 

Mark  you,  I  would  not  be  considered  the 
defender  of  the  Puritans.  I  can  see,  as  I 
think,  perhaps  as  much  of  carnal-minded  craft 
in  the  leader  who  beheaded  Charles  as  of 
weak-minded  sensuality  in  his  royal  victim. 
But  now  I  would  note  how  natural  it  is  that 
in  a  phase  of  Christianity  thus  developed 
there  should  be  utter  disregard  of  the  neces- 
sity to  provide  for  this  want  of  human  na- 
ture, in  whose  satisfaction  there  is  such  large 
opportunity  for  sin.  It  was  perhaps  itself  the 
parent  of  the  Revolution,  but  in  its  develop- 
ment became  the  child  of  that  it  had  begotten. 
The  character  of  Christian  is  identified  with 
that  of  patriot  ;  opposition  to  the  King  of 
England  and  to  the  Prince  of  Evil  are  one 
and  the  same  thing,  and  the  badge  of  the  one 
enmity  must  be  as  arbitrary  and  as  manifest  as 
that  of  the  other.  Recreation  !  What  is  needed 
more  than  the  Sermon  of  some  ranting  enthu- 


Discrimination 


siast  ?  Amusement  ?  There  is  nor  time  nor 
place  for  such  ;  for  was  it  not  the  very  occupa- 
tion of  the  enemy  of  the  Lord's  people,  and 
does  not  the  Scripture  say — that  very  Scripture 
whose  every  word  is  of  divine  inspiration,  and 
hence  of  universal  and  eternal  application  — 
"  Is  any  merry,  let  him  sing  psalms"  ?  And 
the  stern  logic  which,  in  its  outworking  of 
dogmatic  system,  does  not  shrink  from  the 
assertion  of  the  eternal  damnation  of  new-born 
infants,  as  blindly  and  mercilessly  would  ig- 
nore the  nature  of  the  race  which  Jesus  came 
to  redeem,  the  nature  which  the  Father  gave  ; 
would  uproot  desires  and  faculties  which  He 
did  implant,  because  their  gratification  and  de- 
velopment, they  have  determined,  cannot  be 
without  sin.  The  result  we  behold  in  each  de- 
partment the  same  :  the  soul,  which  is  conscious 
of  the  Divine  Paternity,  revolting  against  the 
ascription  of  merciless  cruelty  to  the  Father, 
and  the  assertion  of  the  consequent  necessity 
for  divine  sacrifice  ;  and,  longing  for  a  com- 
plete human  manifestation  of  God's  father- 
hood, will  have  Jesus  to  be  only  Son  of  man. 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.        199 

And  so  as  to  dogma,  Unitarianism  is  the  off- 
spring of  Puritanism.  And  the  nature  which 
believes  itself  God-given,  and  therefore  that 
for  all  its  parts  there  must  be  possible  develop- 
ment and  satisfaction  without  sin,  and  agree- 
ably to  the  Father's  will,  it  tears  in  pieces 
these  decrees  against  amusement  which  Puritan 
Apostles  have  given  it  to  keep,  and  all  distinc- 
tion between  the  Church  and  the  World  in  this 
respect  is  taken  away  ;  and  Puritanism  begets 
Lawlessness. 

So  also  in  the  inception  of  the  great  Meth- 
odist movement  in  America,  there  was  a  per- 
haps natural  unmindfulness  of  the  fact  that 
man  is  not  a  purely  spiritual  being,  and  that 
the  whole  man  is  to  be  redeemed,  and  that  by 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  his  whole  life  is  to  be 
purified,  and  not  a  part  of  that  life  destroyed. 
Perhaps  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  Wesley  never  designed  to  build  a  Church, 
but  only  to  constitute  a  Society  for  the  pursuit 
of  holiness  within  the  bounds  of  the  Ancient 
Church  whereof  he  was  Minister,  we  may  feel 
less  surprised  that  his  wisdom  made,  no  provision 


200  Discrimination 


in  this  regard.  But  as  the  great  work  went  on 
— the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  men  who, 
though  Christians,  had  never  heard  it  ;  the 
work  of  quickening  by  the  Word  the  new  life 
into  holiness — in  this  great  spiritual  revolution 
there  was  naturally  the  same  peculiar  manifes- 
tation as  in  that  wherein  the  weapons  of  a  so- 
called  spiritual  warfare  were  carnal.  The 
peculiar  dress  proclaimed  the  regenerate,  the 
tone  of  voice  revealed  the  tone  of  mind,  and 
distinctions  just  as  arbitrary  in  the  matter  of 
social  merry-making  and  popular  amusement 
were  made  to  separate  between  the  people  who 
would  serve  God  by  "method"  and  those 
who  saw  no  visions  and  dreamed  no  dreams  ; 
those  to  whom  the  ecstasy  of  joyful  deliverance 
in  the  moment  when  the  crucified  Saviour  was 
revealed,  was  not  a  tangible  experience  to  be 
located  in  time  and  place  and  circumstance. 
Let  us  remark  here  that  in  those  days  and  in 
those  circumstances  such  distinctions  were  per- 
haps natural,  and  certainly  that  such  peculiarity 
of  life  was  possible  of  maintenance.  The  very 
idiosyncrasies  of  their  conduct  were  a  pleasing 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       201 

excitement  in  their  display  ;  the  Class-meeting 
and  the  Love-feast  were  spiritual  merry-makings 
where  tragic  depiction  of  wrestling  combat  with 
the  Evil  One  gave  satisfaction  to  the  dramatic 
instinct  of  speaker  and  hearer,  and  where  pov- 
erty and  ignorance  found  their  social  exchange. 
To-day,  at  the  great  centres  of  population,  in 
the  cities  where  wealth  and  consequent  culture 
and  refinement  are  gathered,  you  shall  look  in 
vain  for  aught  more  than  nominal  continuance 
of  these  their  ancient  peculiarities  of  method  : 
even  as  they  now  worship  in  houses  of  archi- 
tectural splendor,  even  as  the  wisest  of  their 
leaders  are  grown  chary  of  the  employment  of 
the  mourner's  bench,  even  as  their  preaching  is 
no  longer  the  unchanging  cry  to  "  flee  from 
the  wrath. to  come,"  even  as  the  system  of 
itinerancy  is  so  modified  that  their  pastorships 
are  as  "  settled  "  as  ours,  and  many  are  asking 
for  Diocesan  Episcopacy.  Just  so  their  merely 
arbitrary  distinctions  as  to  popular  and  social 
amusements  are  broken  down,  and  the  disciples 
of  Wesley  are  not  now  more  particular  in  this 
regard  than  other  Christians. 


202  Discrimination 


I  have  spoken  of  these  movements,  because 
in  them  I  find  the  origin  in  chief  of  the  arbi- 
trary distinctions  largely  confined  to  American 
Christians  ;  because  we  of  one  school  in  the 
old  historic  Church  have  been  most  largely  in- 
fluenced by  their  traditions,  and  because  with 
us,  as  with  them,  these  arbitrary  distinctions 
remain  enshrined  in  the  loving  memory  of  men 
and  women  of  the  generation  passing  away, 
and  yet  have  no  power  with  those  who  come 
after  us,  and,  as  1  believe,  are  most  fruitful 
source  of  the  lawlessness  over  which  we  grieve. 

As  I  have  said,  I  can  understand,  it  seems 
to  me,  that  such  badges  of  loyalty  were  nat- 
ural, were  perhaps  wise,  in  the  day,  and  in  the 
furious  struggle  of  the  day,  of  their  devising. 
But  if  the  danger  to  the  kingdom  and  cause  of 
Christ  be  as  great  or  greater  to-day,  still  so  has 
changed  the  conviction  of  men  as  to  its  charac- 
ter that  they  will  not  wear  a  mere  cockade  of 
loyalty  to  testify  their  devotion  to  the  king's 
throne.  They  are  not  willing  to  be  shut  up 
within  imaginary  lines  of  demarkation,  by  the 
authority  of  their  leaders,  when  they  can  them- 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       2&: 


selves  see  that  other  territory,  around  which  no 
line  of  prohibition  is  drawn,  is  to  the  full  as 
dangerous  as  that  from  which  they  are  forbid- 
den. More  than  this,  and  most  important  of  all, 
the  very  unreality  of  the  distinction  made  serves 
but  to  destroy  the  value  of  their  teacher's  wis- 
dom, and  to  justify  disregard  of  all  that  he 
ordains,  even  in  cases  where  a  doubtful  con- 
science adds  its  timid  suggestion  to  the 
Church's  expressed  warning,  or  rather  to  the 
traditional  opinion  of  the  Christian  world. 

I  say,  "rather  to  the  traditional  opinion  of 
the    Christian  world";    for  speaking  as  I    am 
especially  with   reference   to   the   dangers   and 
duties  of  our  own  Church,  I   must   here  again 
express  my  satisfaction    that   on   the   statute- 
book  of  the  Church  arc  found   no   enactments 
against   particular    transgressions,    other    than 
those  plainly  laid  down  in   Holy   Scripture.     I 
believe  that  her  wisdom  is  shown  here  in  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  that   Holy  Scripture,  in 
the  inculcation  of  principles  rather  than  of  pre- 
cepts, in  the   effort  to  develop   self-determin- 
ing manhood  rather  than  to  essay  the  continu- 


204  Discrimination 


ance  of  a  childhood  to  be  directed  and  guided 
at  its  every  step.  But  more  of  this  by  and 
by.  Now  I  would  emphasize  the  arbitrariness 
of  these  moral  differences  made  by  Christian 
people,  and  the  absurdity — yes,  absurdity — of 
some  of  them.  In  retreating  from  the  position 
on  this  subject  once  held,  the  march  has  been 
unequal  at  different  points  of  the  line,  so  that 
now  the  front  presented  is  zigzag  and  defence- 
less. At  one  point  we  are  come  back  to  an 
eminence  unassailable,  plainly  pointed  out  upon 
the  chart  of  battle  given  us  so  long  ago  ;  but 
far  in  front  of  it,  on  the  right  hand  or  the  left, 
are  still  huddled  a  handful  of  fearful  men,  who 
in  honest  loyalty  to  that  they  believe,  cannot 
surrender  the  place,  though  low  and  marshy 
and  easy  of  assault  ;  who  cannot  see  that  the 
true  line  of  defence  is  behind  them,  even  that 
natural  boundary  whereof  the  rocky  height  is 
part.  Alas  !  the  danger  is  that  by  and  by, 
driven  thence  by  a  force  they  cannot  resist, 
they  shall  in  utter  demoralization  throw  away 
their  arms  and  give  up  the  contest.  If  they 
cannot  maintain  the  point  where  their  fathers 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       205 

stood,  then  is  there  nothing  worthy  of  defence 
or  of  struggle  :  let  it  all  go. 

To  drop  all  figure  and  speak  with  perfect 
plainness,  I  believe  that  the  indiscriminate  con- 
demnation of  one  whole  class  of  amusements 
and  the  indiscriminate  approval  of  another  has 
produced  the  effect,  upon  the  mass  of  Christian 
people,  to  destroy  the  value  of  all  such  judg- 
ment. Of  the  class  condemned  they  can  find 
particular  specimens  that  are  good  and  helpful, 
as  of  the  class  approved  they  can  find  speci- 
mens that  are  bad  and  hurtful,  and  the  distinc- 
tion is  proven  vain,  and  equally  vain  all  of  like 
character. 

For  example,  we  no  longer  hear  outcry  made 
against  the  reading  of  fictitious  literature,  and 
on  the  Library-table  of  almost  every  Christian 
home  in  this  city  will  be  found  the  latest  prod- 
ucts of  our  teeming  press,  any  one  of  which 
had  been  perhaps  an  "  unclean  thing"  in  the 
judgment  of  the  earnest  Christian  an  hundred 
years  ago,  which  he  must  "  touch  not"  lest  he 
be  defiled.  To-day  a  wise  Christian  father  or 
mother  will  be  careful  that  the  purity  of  son  or 


2o6  Discrimination 


daughter  be  not  sullied  by  the  perusal  of  pages 
which  can  bring  only  defilement  with  guilty 
knowledge  ;  but  recognizing  fully  that  much, 
perhaps  even  the  larger  part,  of  contemporary 
fictitious  literature  is  an  unclean  thing,  not  to 
be  touched  or  tasted  or  handled  save  with  cer- 
tain damage,  yet  to  secure  immunity  from 
this  hurt  we  do  not  in  puritanic  wrath  burn  all 
such  writings  in  our  social  market-place.  On 
the  contrary,  the  young  man  and  maiden  are 
bidden  and  urged  to  study  the  masterpieces  of 
the  literary  artists  of  the  old  time,  and  to  find 
recreation  and  delight  in  the  poem,  the  novel, 
the  drama  of  to-day  ;  for  not  only  are  they  es- 
teemed to  be  legitimate  sources  of  purest  men- 
tal recreation,  but  as  works  of  art  they  stimulate 
and  cultivate  in  us  the  God-given  appreciation 
of  the  beautiful. 

More  than  this  ;  because  we  have  learned 
that  in  the  mirror  held  up  to  nature,  igno- 
rance and  immaturity  can  best  learn  the  lessons 
that  life  in  its  multiform  variety  is  fitted  to 
impart  ;  because  we  have  learned  also  that  the 
art    of   fictitious    portraiture    is    a    blessing    to 


as 


to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       207 


men  ;  and  because  in  its  faithful  rendering  of 
the  good  and  the  evil,  in  their  natural  com- 
mingling, is  its  power  to  give  help  and  to  give 
pleasure,  we  consent  that  vice  must  be  pic- 
tured in  the  story — vice  even  sometimes  trium- 
phant— and  that  the  danger  of  defilement  be- 
gins only  with  the  false  representation,  when 
the  results  of  vicious  living  are  concealed,  and 
its  joys  exaggerated.  Discrimination  must 
select  the  true  frum  the  false,  the  impure  from 
the  clean.  Alas  !  though  we  have  learned  its 
necessary  use  in  this  particular  department,  we 
are  sadly  derelict  in  the  performance  of  our 
duty,  and  perhaps  to-day  there  is  no  more 
fruitful  cause  of  moral  degeneracy  than  the 
fictitious  literature  which  feeds  the  minds  of 
our  boys  and  girls. 

But,  mark,  I  pray  you,  that  now  all  Chris- 
tians acknowledge  that  there  is  pure  and  health- 
ful fictitious  literature,  both  in  prose  and 
verse  ;  all  acknowledge  that  there  is  a  proper 
place  for  it  in  our  Christian  society,  even  ac- 
knowledge that  it  is  a  mighty  power  for  bless- 
ing and  for  cursing,  so  that  we  seek  to  employ 


2o8  Discrimination 


it  for  purpose  of  propagating  the  truth,  re- 
ligious, ecclesiastical,  or  even  political,  which 
we  value  most. 

Further,  we  cheerfully  admit  that  the  hear- 
ing one  Artist  interpret  what  another  Artist  has 
created  is  added  delight  which  cannot  be  for- 
bidden on  any  true  Christian  ground  ;  and  so 
Clergy  and  Laity  may  go  hand  in  hand  to  the 
Concert  hall,  where,  without  the  assistance  of 
costume  and  scenery,  the  Prima  Donna  shall 
sing  for  us  the  strains  which  have  floated  in 
upon  the  rapt  soul  of  the  musician,  or  the  Tra- 
gedian without  his  buskin  shall  make  us  un- 
derstand what  the  seer  has  beheld  of  the  intri- 
cate workings  of  that  mysterious  thing,  a 
human  heart. 

I  remember  that  a  great  Tragedian,  once 
visiting  a  neighboring  city,  received  request 
from  the  members  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association,  that  for  their  benefit  and  en- 
tertainment he  would  come  to  their  hall  and 
give  them  a  Shakespearian  reading.  I  remem- 
ber that  his  answer  came  back,  that  it  could 
not  be  proper  for  them  to  hear  him  read,  while 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       209 

sitting  in  a  chair,  the  words  which  they  deemed 
it  all  unlawful  to  listen  to,  if  he  should  speak 
them  while  dressed  to  represent  the  character, 
and  standing  amid  the  mimic  scene  designed  to 
heighten  the  effect,  by  rendering  the  illusion 
more  complete.  I  could  not  help  admiring  the 
man  for  his  rebuke  to  the  Christian  inconsist- 
ency which  would  thus  emphasize  a  distinction 
without  a  difference. 

Are  you  wondering,  my^  Christian  friends, 
that  I  can  speak  such  words  ?  And  are  you  writ- 
ing me  down  in  your  judgment  as  the  advocate 
of  the  Theatre  ?  I  know  the  risk  I  am  running 
of  being  misunderstood  ;  I  know  full  well  the 
danger  to  which  I  am  exposing  my  Christian 
reputation  ;  but  I  must  speak,  for  I  believe 
that  by  nothing  more  than  by  these  unreal, 
arbitrary,  often  absurd  distinctions,  is  the 
cause  of  Christ  being  hindered  in  our  country. 

The  Theatre  is  to-day,  I  believe,  degraded 
into  a  very  high  school  of  vice  ;  the  dramas 
which  are  put  upon  the  boards  are  in  general, 
I  believe,  suggestive  pictures  of  licentious  life  ; 
the  wit  is  pointed  only  by  its  coarseness,  the 


2 1  o  Disc  rim  i nation 


plot  is  an  intrigue,  and  its  incidents  selected 
for  the  sake  of  their  lewd  piquancy  ;  while 
but  too  often  wit  and  plot  and  incident  are 
altogether  nothing  but  an  opportunity  for  the 
exhibition  of  shameless  nakedness  ;  and  Chris- 
tian people  of  every  name,  young  and  old,  rich 
and  poor,  all  alike  are  its  patrons. 

This  the  fact,  the  melancholy  fact,  which 
compels  the  Christian  teacher  to  seek  its  ex- 
planation, to  break  down  if  he  may  the 
scaffolding  of  unreal  distinctions,  builded  by 
Christian  sentiment,  which  protects  the  indis- 
criminate patronage,  and  to  seek  a  remedy  in 
urging  that  we  more  fully  recognize  that  the 
peculiarity  of  the  disciples  of  Christ  is  redemp- 
tion from  all  iniquity,  and  purification  unto 
zeal  for  good  works. 

I  say  that  there  is  a  faculty  implanted  in  our 
nature  which  demands  exercise  in  the  recrea- 
tion, of  its  jaded  companions  ;  that  amusement 
is  as  necessary  as  labor,  to  the  well-being  and 
health  of  body,  mind,  and  spirit  ;  and  I  say 
that  because  this  is  true,  therefore  the  exercise 
of  this  faculty,  the   satisfying   of  this  hunger, 


as  to  Recreation  and  A  muscment.       2 1 1 

must  be  possible  without  sin.  Further,  I  find 
that  the  representation  of  nature  by  art,  be 
that  art  musical,  pictorial,  literary,  or  dra- 
matic, does  offer  fullest  opportunity  for  this 
faculty  to  be  developed  into  healthy  activity, 
does  offer  most  satisfying  food  to  this  hunger. 
The  doll  in  the  nursery,  the  snow-man  on  the 
playground,  the  merry  singing  of  a  group  of 
boys  and  girls,  the  masqueradings  and  the 
dramas  of  childhood,  equally  with  the  juvenile 
books  which  are  such  entrancing  joy, — all  tes- 
tify to  the  reality  of  the  need  I  find  in  men, 
and  of  the  natural  satisfaction  it  seeks. 

The  writer's  ready  pen  is  no  longer  forbid- 
den to  bring  to  my  child  happy  companions 
and  gleeful  sports  from  an  unseen  child-world  ; 
the  Christian  is  no  longer  forbidden  to  laugh 
and  weep  with  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  the 
creatures  born  of  the  genius  whose  dead  body 
the  great  Abbey  enshrines  ;  nay,  I  may  even 
go,  as  I  have  said,  to  see  the  Artist  tear  the 
wrappings  off,  that  I  may  behold  the  hidden 
wonders  of  Art,  whereof  before  I  had  no  con- 
ception,   if    only    the  helpful    accompaniment 


2 1 2  Discrimination 


that  Artist  would  fain  employ,  and  does  employ 
on  other  occasion,  be  absent.  Is  this  natural  ? 
Grant  that  vice  reigns  supreme  in  the  Play- 
house ;  does  it  not  as  really  control  the  Press 
whence  issue  the  works  of  fiction  ?  Are  actors 
and  actresses,  in  drama  and  opera,  men  and 
women  of  evil  life,  who  should  not  be  counte- 
nanced or  encouraged  ?  Is  it  less  encouragement 
to  give  them  our  countenance  at  the  Concert  or 
the  Reading  ?  Above  all,  ought  we  to  surren- 
der this  mighty  engine  for  instruction  and  de- 
light into  hands  that  will  use  it  only  to  de- 
grade ?  May  there  not  be,  should  there  not 
be,  a  discrimination  possible,  which  by  its  very 
wisdom  and  reason  will  commend  itself  to  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  great  multitude  of  Chris- 
tians who  are  now  utterly  unmindful  of  any 
such  obligation,  and  who  go  to  laugh  at  the 
coarse  obscenities  of  the  comic  opera,  as  they 
go  to  behold  the  most  splendid  realization  of 
most  splendid  poetic  conception  ? 

One  other  example  I  will  give  of  like  un- 
meaning distinction  productive  of  like  abandon- 
ment of  all  distinctions  by  the  people.     The 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       213 

rattling  dice  are  heard  in  many  a  Christian 
parlor,  and  the  dull  routine  of  backgammon 
whiles  away  many  an  evening  in  homes  where 
a  card  would  be  looked  upon  as  the  very  ban- 
ner of  the  Prince  of  all  evil,  from  which  chil- 
dren should  be  bidden  to  flee,  and  which  the 
fire  on  the  hearth  should  quickly  consume. 
The  dominoes  afford  amusement  to  the  gath- 
ered company,  with  perfect  Christian  propriety, 
but  if  the  same  numbers  be  printed  on  card- 
board instead  of  ivory,  then  the  same  combi- 
nations, which  were  just  now  harmless,  become 
most  dangerous.  Substitute  letters  of  the 
alphabet  for  the  traditional  characters  on  the 
cards,  and  the  game  becomes  innocent  which 
before  was  evil,  though  the  principles  of  the 
two  are  identical.  And  yet  a  moment's  reflec- 
tion would  serve  to  convince  us  that,  as  the 
implement  of  the  gambler,  the  dice-box  is  as 
frequent  and  as  enticing  as  the  card-table,  and 
that  in  some  grades  of  society,  even  in  America, 
the  game  of  dominoes  is  the  most  usual  occa- 
sion of  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  gambler  ;  and 
that  dice  and  dominoes  may  be  and  are  as  real 


2  14  Discrimination 


provocation  as  cards,  of  the  covetous  lust  for 
gain,  and  of  the  angry  despair  of  loss,  which 
blacken  and  foul  the  divine  image  in  which  he 
was  created.  So  that  in  this  particular  in- 
stance, not  even  the  argument  from  natural  or 
necessary  tendency  may  be  adduced  as  justifi- 
cation of  the  arbitrary  selection  ;  whereas  the 
stigma  placed  upon  the  one  pastime,  while  the 
other  and  the  similar  escapes  our  ban,  does  but 
serve,  and  serve  inevitably,  to  vacate  the  power 
of  our  judgment  mall  such  matters,  and  to  sug- 
gest that  it  is  but  an  unreasoning  traditional  ob- 
jection which  forbids  the  wager  upon  the  result 
of  any  game,  though  that  finds  certain  warrant 
in  the  prohibition  of  the  Master  Himself  of 
the  "  covetousness  which  is  idolatry." 

These  examples  may  suffice  to  illustrate  the 
position  I  would  maintain,  that  unreal  moral 
distinctions  are  fruitful  cause  of  the  disregard 
of  all,  even  those  most  real.  But  I  cannot  fail 
to  mention  one  other,  belonging  to  wholly 
different  category,  itself  perhaps  a  result,  and 
not  a  cause,  of  the  indiscriminate  conformity 
of  Christians  to  the  world's  customs,   but  just 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       215 

as  utterly  without  foundation  as  the  others,  and 
effectual,  like  them,  to  continue  this  moral 
chaos  from  which  it  came.  I  mean  the  distinc- 
tion, which  is  everywhere  recognized,  as  to  the 
different  moral  duty  of  Clergy  and  Laity  in  this 
respect.  I  feel  confident  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  Christian  men  and  women  to  whom  I  am 
speaking  to-night  would  consider  it  quite  with- 
in the  limits  of  their  Christian  liberty  to  attend 
the  representation  of  some  world-renowned 
drama  by  an  artist  of  fame  as  wide.  I  will  take 
for  granted,  as  I  can  but  hope  I  am  justified  in 
doing,  that  but  few  of  my  auditors  would  not 
be  careful  as  to  the  character  of  the  perform- 
ance to  which  they  wTould  lend  their  presence  ; 
yet  how  amazed  and  sorrowful  would  they  be 
to  see  their  Clergyman  enter  to  enjoy  that 
which  they  consider  perfectly  allowed  to  them- 
selves without  self-condemnation  !  And  is  not 
their  feeling  of  surprise  and  of  sorrow  wholly 
without  excuse,  if  indeed  their  own  presence 
may  not  be  questioned  ?  Is  there  different 
moral  rule  laid  down  in  Holy  Scripture  for 
Clergy  and  Laity  ?    Are  the  Ministers  of  Christ 


2 1 6  Discrim  (nation 

aught  more  than  a  part  of  that  ''peculiar 
people,"  though  they  be  their  leaders  and 
guides,  all  of  whom  equally,  St.  Paul  writes  to 
Titus,  Christ  would  redeem  from  all  iniquity 
and  purify  unto  Himself? 

Now  be  it  understood  that  I,  as  a  public 
religious  teacher,  may  abstain  from  this  or  that 
of  self-indulgence  for  manifold  reasons  of  expe- 
diency, and  with  greatest  propriety.  Indeed  I 
think  the  Minister  of  Christ  worthy  of  only 
contempt  who,  whatever  he  may  think  of  the 
moral  tendency  of  any  offered  entertainment, 
shall  selfishly  refuse  to  abstain  from  it,  if  there 
be  reasonable  probability  that  by  his  refusal  he 
shall  place  in  the  Christian  pathway  a  stone  of 
stumbling  against  whose  sharp  sides  ignorance 
or  recklessness  may  be  wounded  to  death  or  to 
desertion  of  the  race.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
this  principle  must  have  its  limitations  in  its 
application  to  each  particular  case,  lest  our 
Christian  liberty  be  placed  in  the  power  of 
every  morbid  conscience  in  the  community  ; 
and  still  more,  for  me  to  abstain  from  that 
which  is  in  my  judgment  sinless,  on  the  allowed 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       217 

ground  that  it  is  sinful,  is  falsehood  as  real  as 
were  my  assertion  by  my  action,  of  my  belief 
in  the  sinlessness  of  what  in  reality  I  believe  to 
be  sinful. 

But  more  than  this,  and  most  important  of 
all  in  the  discussion  with  which  we  are  now  en- 
gaged, such  arbitrary  division  of  the  teacher 
from  the  taught  tends  surely  to  lower  the  stand- 
ard of  excellence  for  the  disciples'  endeavor, 
and  to  make  him  content  with  lower  attain- 
ment ;  and  it  tends  as  well  to  inculcate  the 
falsehood  of  a  vicarious  performance  of  per- 
sonal duty,  which  is  so  full  of  danger  because 
it  is  so  full  of  pleasing  satisfaction  to  the  human 
heart. 

The  Clergy,  we  all  say,  must  set  an  example 
to  the  People.  Yes,  but  example  for  what — to 
be  admired  or  to  be  imitated  ?  Manifestly, 
only  the  latter,  if  what  is  sinful  —  mark  you, 
not  merely  inexpedient,  but  sinful — in  the  Min- 
ister is  sinless  in  those  to  whom  he  ministers. 
And  yet,  just  as  manifestly,  such  is  the  theory 
prevalent  to-day.  The  dance  may  go  on,  the 
joy   be  unconfmed,   now   that  the  Minister  is 


2 1 8  Discrim  ination 


gone  from  the  wedding-feast  ;  but  the  conver- 
sation grows  more  restrained  at  his  approach, 
and  youth  is  silent  and  reserved,  as  though  in 
the  unwelcome  presence  of  a  policeman  come 
to  search  for  offenders  against  the  law,  and  to 
secure  their  punishment,  rather  than  of  the 
elder  brother  come  to  share  their  joy,  as  he 
will  come  to  share  their  sorrow  when  the  feast- 
ing has  been  changed  to  mourning. 

I  believe  that  this  enforced  separation  of  the 
Clergy  from  their  People  in  the  hours  of  recre- 
ation is  a  mighty  evil  ;  I  believe  that  it  tends 
to  prevent  that  fullest  confidence  and  sympa- 
thy which  alone  can  enable  them  to  be  fullest 
help  to  those  who  need  help  ;  and,  more  than 
all,  that  it  tends  directly  to  lower  the  tone  of 
social  merry-making  and  public  entertainment, 
both  in  removing  the  restraint  which  age  and 
wisdom  and  feeling  of  responsibility  would  im- 
pose, and  in  searing  the  conscience  of  Christian 
disciple  with  hot  burning  recollection  that  he 
is  taking  part  in  that  which  he  himself  would 
be  ashamed  to  see  his  Minister  enjoy. 

Certainly,    the    pastor,  must    go    before   his 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       219 


flock  ;  certainly,  the  teacher  must  have  made 
greater  attainment  than  his  pupils  ;  certainly, 
he  who  would  point  the  wayfarer  to  heaven 
must  lead  the  way.  More  than  this  :  let  us  be 
sorry  for  the  man  who,  busy  day  after  day  in 
ministering  Christ's  pardon  to  the  penitent 
and  Christ's  consolation  to  the  sorrowing  ;  who, 
kneeling  often  by  the  bedside  of  pain,  and 
breaking  the  bread  of  hope  in  the  chamber  of 
despairing  fear,  is  yet  ever  longing  for  the  glare 
of  the  ball-room  and  the  play-house  —  for  the 
follies  of  the  society  of  which  he  must  be  a 
part.  He  has  a  great  work  to  do,  and  cannot 
come  down  ;  and  yet  he  must  come  down  as  a 
man  among  men,  to  be  partner  in  all  their  life 
in  its  every  manifestation,  if  he  shall  do  that 
great  work. 

"  The  way  to  make  indifferent  things 
wrong,"  says  George  Macdonald,  "  is  for  good 
people  to  stop  doing  them"  ;  and  well  will  it 
be  for  the  Church  when  it  shall  be  fully  recog- 
nized that  what  is  lawful  for  People  is  lawful 
for  Priest,  and  that  what  the  Priest  may  not  do 
because  it  is  sinful,  his  People  too  must  forego. 


2  20  Discrim  mat  ion 


But  I  can  hear  already  the  reproachful  ques- 
tion, in  answer  to  all  that  I  have  been  saying, 
"  Shall  there  not  be  a  line  of  separation  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  World  ?  Shall  there 
not  be  badges  of  abstinence  and  of  perform- 
ance, whereby  they  may  be  recognized  who 
have  named  the  precious  name,  and  have 
sworn  the  sacrament  of  allegiance?"  And  I 
answer,  Yes,  a  line,  but  not  an  imaginary  one, 
to  be  determined  only  by  measured  reference 
to  fixed  points  lar  distant,  but  aline  of  division 
deep  and  wide  as  between  life  and  death,  nat- 
ural and  necessary,  the  outworking,  individ- 
ual and  peculiar,  of  the  indwelling  Spirit  of 
Jesus,  to  Whom  has  been  surrendered  the  will. 
No  such  real  difference  can  distinguish  the 
officers  from  the  host,  for  both  classes  are  alike 
saved,  and  alike  bound,  by  the  same  act  of 
surrender  and  confession  ;  they  are  distin- 
guished but  in  relative  position,  and  their  con- 
duct to  be  differentiated  by  considerations  only 
of  expediency  and  not  of  absolute  morality. 

But  shall  these  matters  of  Christian  conduct 
be  left  to  the  determination  of  the  individual 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       221 

Christian  disciple,  and  shall  not  rather  the 
Church,  in  discharge  of  her  bounden  duty  "  to 
edify  the  saints,"  lay  down  rules  of  conduct 
for  men's  guidance  ?  Shall  she  not  station  the 
sentinels  of  anathema  and  excommunication 
over  against  the  enticing  resorts  of  pleasure,  to 
warn  away  the  infatuated,  and  to  arrest  and 
discipline  the  offender  ? 

I  answer,  search  the  Holy  Book,  and  see 
that  in  it  there  are  no  rules  containing  specific 
injunction  or  prohibition,  but  that,  on  the 
contrary,  everywhere  we  read  the  enunciation 
of  great  broad  principles  of  conduct  and  of 
duty,  which  all  rest  upon  the  one  supreme  mo- 
tive of  loyalty  to  the  personal  Christ,  and  are 
all  made  applicable  by  the  promised  assistance 
of  His  Spirit.  The  delectable  mountains  of 
holiness  are  shown  to  the  pilgrim,  and  toward 
their  heights  he  is  bidden  to  turn  his  eager 
feet  ;  but  these  heights  stand  forth  in  vague 
and  undefined  magnificence,  and  the  encircling 
hills  of  little  duties  and  little  denials  are  not 
described  ;  the  aspiration  for  the  summit  must 
be  guide  sufficient  for  their  surmounting.     See 


222  Discrimination 


the  great  Apostle  says  :  '  Whatsoever  things 
are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  what- 
soever things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report,  .  .  .  think  on 
these  things. ' '  These  stand  out  boldly  as  goals 
of  our  endeavor  ;  yet  behind  them  we  can  see 
still  loftier  elevation  :  "  Charity  [which]  beareth 
all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all 
things,  endureth  all  things."  Still  farther  dis- 
tant, still  higher  summit,  we  behold  :  "  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  all  thy  soul,  and  all  thy  mind  ;  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself. "  And,  lifted  above  all, 
amid  the  clouds  and  darkness  which  are  round 
about  Him,  we  are  shown  the  glowing  perfec- 
tion to  which  we  must  come  :  "  Be  ye  therefore 
perfect,  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is 
perfect." 

And  so,  on  the  other  hand,  we  hear  of  the 
works  of  the  flesh  which  are  the  denial  of  the 
presence  of  the  Spirit,  and  so  the  proof  that 
though  there  has  been  confession  of  the  mouth, 
there  has  been  no  belief  with  the  heart  in  Him 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       223 

Who  was  raised  from  the  dead.  Impurity  and 
falsehood,  injustice  and  hate  :  these  are  evi- 
dence of  subjection  to  the  Evil  One,  whom 
the  Christ  would  destroy.  Therefore,  against 
them,  all  of  them,  in  their  every  possible  phase, 
the  believer  in  Jesus  will  struggle,  must 
struggle,  because  the  Spirit  who  dwelleth  in 
him  lusteth  against  the  flesh. 

But  have  you  not  observed  that  the  Apostles 
and  the  Lord  never  specify  particular  provoca- 
tions to  sin  to  be  avoided,  never  lay  their 
hands  on  any  particular  temptations  to  trans- 
gression, and  cry  aloud  against  them  ?  And 
yet  we  know  that  the  world  of  their  day  offered 
just  as  enticing  invitation  to  the  Christian  as 
the  world  of  our  own  time,  and  that  society — 
best  society  as  we  might  call  it — was  more  cor- 
rupt, perhaps,  than  ever  before  or  since. 

At  the  games  in  whose  wrestling  and  running 
contests  St.  Paul  finds  the  illustration  of  the 
Christian  life,  which  he  employs  in  his  letter  to 
the  Corinthians,  he  seems  to  take  for  granted 
their  frequent  attendance  and  participation  ; 
and    yet,     notoriously,     every    incitement    to 


224  Discrimination 


vicious  indulgence  was  there  offered.  It  seems 
to  me,  then,  that  the  wisdom  of  the  Church  of 
to-day  is  to  follow  this  example  of  refusal  to 
stigmatize  as  forbidden,  anything  other  than 
that  which  is  in  itself  plain  violation  of  the 
moral  law  to  which  God  bears  witness  in  con- 
science and  in  Scripture.  I  do  not  believe  that 
St.  Paul  designed  to  give  complete  catalogue 
of  all  possible  works  of  the  flesh  when  he  wrote 
the  list  for  the  Galatians  ;  on  the  contrary,  I 
believe  that  the  enemy  will  change  his  bait  to 
suit  the  changed  habit  and  appetite  of  the  prize 
he  would  secure.  I  believe  that,  of  necessity, 
the  dangers  of  our  age  of  luxury  and  refine- 
ment must  be  wholly  different  from  those  which 
environed  our  forefathers,  and  hence  that  there 
will  be  ever  new  occasion  again  and  again,  as 
the  years  pass  by,  that  the  Church,  the  ever- 
living  Apostle  and  Guide,  shall  by  her  Ministers 
cry  aloud  to  tell  of  the  new  dangers  to  which 
her  children  are  exposed,  and  to  warn  that  they 
be  avoided.  But  this  very  duty  involves  that 
she  see  and  admit  that  the  old-time  dangers 
may  be  no  longer  so  full  of  peril  ;  that  because 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.        225 

of  the  changed  condition  in  thought  and  habit 
of  life  the  old-time  distinctions  may  be  no 
longer  insisted  upon  ;  and  I  repeat  again, 
that  the  failure  to  make  this  admission  must 
weaken  if  it  does  not  destroy  the  value  of  the 
teacher's  judgment  with  his  pupil. 

More  than  this  :  I  urge  that  in  the  performance 
of  this  duty  the  modern  Church  shall  imitate  the 
Apostolic  wisdom  and  refrain  from  all  legislation 
as  to  particulars,  and  that  the  representatives 
of  the  Church  in  their  application  of  principles 
to  individual  cases  shall  refrain  from  indiscrim- 
inate condemnation  and  indiscriminate  ap- 
proval ;  but  in  ministering  "  ghostly  counsel 
and  advice"  shall  have  fullest  regard  to  differ- 
ences of  temperament  and  of  development,  to 
habits  of  mind  and  of  body,  and  that  in  all 
such  ministrations  the  aim  be  kept  steadily  in 
view  to  develop  a  self-determining  Christian 
manhood,  and  not  to  be  the  director  of  a  child- 
hood which  shall  never  end  ;  and,  above  all, 
that  we  fail  not  to  constantly  set  forth  that  the 
indwelling  of  Christ  is  salvation,  and  that  if 
Christ  be  in  us  "  the  hope  of  glory,"  He  must 


226  Discrimination 


bring  every  thought  and  desire  into  subjection, 
and  that  such  increasing  subjection  is  the  alone 
assurance  of  the  salvation  we  seek. 

Has  not  the  disposition  of  Christian  people 
and  Christian  teachers  been  rather  in  this  par- 
ticular to  set  up  a  Procrustean  bed  of  iron 
conformity,  on  which  every  temperament  and 
disposition  must  be  stretched,  no  matter  for 
radical  differences  of  stature  ?  Have  we  not 
rather  sought  to  furnish  Christian  people,  in  re- 
spect to  the  matter  of  which  I  speak,  a  patent 
medicine  equally  curative  of  all  disorders, 
equally  indicated  as  remedy  by  every  symp- 
tom of  disease,  and  to  make  the  one  prescrip- 
tion an  universal  pharmacopeia  ?  Have  we  not 
failed  to  remember  that,  in  the  spiritual  nature 
as  the  physical,  there  are  for  different  individuals 
varying  needs  and  varying  dangers,  demanding 
varying  food  and  varying  medicine  ?  I  can 
take  as  food,  with  pleasure  and  with  safety, 
many  things  which  to  my  friend  and  compan- 
ion, even  my  closest  of  kin,  may  be  deadly  : 
shall  it  be  otherwise  with  the  spiritual  nature  ? 
And  shall  it  not  be  probably  true  that  a  pursuit, 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       227 

be  it  of  business  or  of  pleasure,  which  is  harm- 
less, or  even  helpful  to  me,  shall  cause  lethargy 
and  death  if  persisted  in  by  him  ?  And  then, 
too,  may  we  not  expect  to  meet  spiritual  dys- 
peptics, who  are  by  their  very  condition  made 
to  be  dietary  propagandists,  who  will  insist  that 
only  that  is  safe  for  anybody  which  they  have 
found  their  morbid  powers  can  comfortably 
manage  ? 

But  just  as  certainly,  to  carry  out  our 
analogy,  there  are  spiritual  poisons,  which 
bring  death  to  the  new  life  from  Jesus,  where- 
soever it  has  been  quickened.  Let  the  nature, 
material  and  visible,  be  our  guide  in  dealing 
with  that  which  is  spiritual  and  invisible  :  it  is 
the  work  of  the  same  Creator,  and  teaches  us 
that  wise  discrimination  must  decide  what  is 
healthful  for  the  individual  soul  ;  that  the 
Father  and  Brethren  must  write  "  Poison"  in 
large  letters  upon  that  which  the  universal  ex- 
perience has  proven  to  be  hurtful  to  all  ;  but 
with  reference  to  all  else,  that  advice  shall  invite 
the  adult  to  the  practice  of  approved  regimen, 
and  authority  compel  its  adoption  by  the  child. 


228  Discrimination 


Further,  let  us  remember  that  only  advice  is 
possible  for  the  full-grown  man,  and  that  there 
be  no  failure  to  recognize  maturity  and  its  per- 
sonal responsibility  when  they  are  come  ;  and 
further  still,  that  our  advice  be  not  made  nuga- 
tory by  being  so  indiscriminate  that  he  who 
asks  it  can  discover  flaw  by  his  own  experi- 
mental investigation. 

The  question  then  presents  itself  to  the  in- 
telligent Christian  faith  of  to-day,  What  shall 
be  done  to  protect  the  disciples  of  Jesus  from 
the  influences  on  every  hand  which  are  oppos- 
ing the  accomplishment  of  His  desire  and  pur- 
pose, to  purify  them  into  a  peculiar  people,  re- 
deemed from  all  iniquity,  and  zealous  for  good 
works?  These  influences  are  so  manifold,  and 
confessedly,  by  them,  so  large  a  proportion  of 
our  young  men  and  women  are  being  dwarfed 
in  their  spiritual  stature  ;  for  the  bonds  of 
iniquity  are  by  their  means  enabled  still  to  re- 
strain the  growing  limbs,  and  the  exercise  of 
doing  good  works  is  made  impossible  by  the 
very  preoccupation  of  the  mind  and  heart  with 
these   welcomed    visitors.      Shall   we    seek    to 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       229 

close  the  doors  against  all  visitors  who  are  not 
come  expressly  to  help  the  deliverance  from 
sin,  the  new  creation  unto  holiness  ?  Shall  we 
seek  to  continue  the  old  plan  of  denying  the 
lawfulness  of  the  natural  desires,  and  of  refus- 
ing to  suffer  any  answer  to  be  made  to  their 
calling,  because  we  have  decided  that  calling 
to  be  only  the  disobedient  outcry  of  a  child 
commanded  to  be  silent  ?  Shall  we  seek  to 
resurrect  a  dead  Puritanism,  or  to  breathe  a 
new  life  into  the  Methodist  asceticism,  which 
is  confessedly  old  and  dying,  if  not  dead  ?  As 
easy  it  were  to  compel  that  all  Christians  shall 
dwell  to-day  in  the  log-hut  of  the  frontiersman, 
in  the  carpetless  cold  and  comfortless  simplicity 
of  the  early  days  in  America,  as  to  refuse  to 
wealthy  leisure  its  dilettante  occupation  in  the 
study  of  the  works  of  art  which  its  riches  can 
buy  and  its  culture  enjoy  ;  or  to  make  men  and 
women  believe  evil  the  excitement  of  the  social 
assembly  where  youth  and  beauty  "  chase  the 
hours  with  flying  feet. ' '  These  things  were  ex- 
hibitions of  worldliness,  essential  worldliness, 
to  the  mind  and  heart  of  our  ancestors,  and  are 


2  ^o  Discrimination 


still,  in  the  judgment  of  many  who  hold  on  to 
the  ideas  of  their  grandfathers,  whereas  they 
are  but  the  gratification  of  the  natural  tastes  of 
human  nature,  that  human  nature  everywhere 
and  always  the  same,  which  found  expression 
then  in  other  forms,  perhaps  just  as  liable  to 
be  perverted  to  sin. 

Nay,  Christianity  would  not,  cannot  destroy 
human  nature,  and  it  were  an  evil  thing  to  do 
if  it  could  ;  but  it  can  and  must  control  it,  if 
it  be  of  any  value — control  it  in  redeeming  it 
from  all  iniquity,  and  in  purifying  it  into  zeal 
for  good  works.  How,  then,  may  we  assist  its 
attainment  of  this  control  ?  I  answer,  first  and 
chief,  not  by  lopping  off  the  outer  branches  of 
mere  doubtful  morality,  but  by  cutting  down 
the  tree  whereon  they  grow,  even  the  merely 
external  acceptance  of  Christ's  religion,  the  un- 
real union  with  Him.  How  shall  we  remedy 
this  diseased  condition  of  the  Church  of  to- 
day ?  I  answer,  By  the  intensification  of  the 
conception  of  the  living  Christ,  and  of  union 
with  Him  in  honest  self-surrender  ;  for  this  and 
this  only  can  effect  the  separation   from  all  in- 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       231 


iquity,  and  the  zealous  endeavor  after  all  good 
works.  I  answer,  that  it  must  be  done  not  by 
legislative  enactment  against  particular  self- 
indulgence,  not  by  the  anathema  of  repulsion 
hurled  by  Priestly  hands  against  joyous,  light- 
hearted  youth  because  it  has  joined  in  this 
or  that  gayety  ;  surely  not  by  indiscriminate 
condemnation  of  the  traditionally  accepted 
"  worldliness,"  but  by  the  making  more  real  to 
those  over  whose  departure  we  are  grieving, 
that  to  be  a  Christian  is  to  have  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  very  centre  and  source  of  our  life. 

Let  us  seek  to  teach  them,  ever  more  and 
more  plainly,  that  not  orthodoxy,  but  loyal  love, 
is  salvation  ;  that  the  expression  of  that  loyal 
love  may  have  very  varying  shape,  and  that  no 
routine  of  ritual  can  give  assured  help  to  our 
weakness  or  be  guarantee  of  salvation  ;  and 
that  if  the  Christ  be  ours,  and  we  be  His,  that 
He  will  teach  each  one  of  us  what  we  must  do 
and  what  we  must  avoid,  and  that  on  our  loyal 
and  willing  effort  to  do  His  will  depends  all  our 
hope.  Yes,  that  our  redemption  from  all  in- 
iquity is  His  will,  and  that  we  are  false  to  Him, 


232       .  Discrimination 


and  separate  ourselves  from  Him,  whensoever 
we  allow  ourselves  in  the  omission  of  what  He 
commands  us,  or  the  commission  of  that  which 
He  by  His  Spirit,  by  His  Church,  by  His 
Word,  teaches  us  to  be  fraught  with  evil. 

I  say  further,  let  us  strive  to  make  men  re- 
alize more  and  more  the  dealing,  the  promised 
dealing  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the  individual  be- 
liever, that  by  our  murmuring  complaint  of  a 
brother's  behavior  he  may  not  be  provoked  to 
more  reckless  assertion  of  his  freedom,  and  ex- 
cited to  angry  dissatisfaction  with  our  self- 
appointed  censorship.  Let  us  seek  to  recog- 
nize that  possibly  our  brethren  are  walking  with 
unsoiled  robes  through  places  where  ours  would 
most  surely  be  all  bedraggled  and  made  unfit 
for  the  King's  house.  And  let  us  recognize 
that  the  distinctions  we  have  inherited  from 
those  who  went  before  us  may  be,  many  of 
them,  now  without  value,  and  cannot  be  main- 
tained, and  that  the  effort  to  maintain  them  is 
to  drive  men  away  from  us  as  guides  whose 
counsel  they  will  not  accept. 

We  will  insist  that  separation  from  all  sin, 


as  to  Recreation  and  Amusement.       233 

i  from  all  that  tends  directly  and  inevitably  to 
sinful  desire  and  sinful  habit,  must  be  the  rule 
for  all,  Clergy  and  Laity,  young  and  old,  rich  and 
poor.  But  we  will  admit  that  for  different  na- 
tures there  may  be  unequal  danger  in  the  same 
thing,  and  we  will  admit  that  for  all  there  may 
be  safety  in  some  instances  of  a  class  generally 
dangerous,  even  as  there  is  defilement  in  the 
use  of  many  particular  specimens  of  a  class  in 
general  considered  safe. 

We  will  make  distinctions,  honest  and  real, 
and  not  fanciful,  arbitrary,  and  often  absurd. 
So  we  will  seek  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the 
men  of  to-day,  that  by  our  counsel  they  may 
learn  the  obligation,  the  necessity  to  make  such 
distinctions  for  themselves,  and  in  the  matter 
of  amusement,  as  of  all  else  in  their  life,  to 
seek  the  honor  of  Christ. 

Finally,  let  me  say  that  leading  men  thus 
slowly  and  gradually,  by  steps  which  they  can 
understand,  and  whose  need  they  can  appre- 
ciate, we  may  hope  to  bring  them  in  the  devel- 
opment of  their  highest  nature  to  find  their 
recreation    in    spiritual    exercise,    and    to    be 


234  Recreation  and  Amusement. 

more  and  more  free  from  the  longing  for  mere 
amusement,  even  though  it  be  sinless.  Yes, 
"  earthly  pleasures  fade  away  when  Jesus  is  re- 
vealed" ;  but  the  full  revelation  of  the  "  open- 
ing day,"  which  alone  can  conceal  the  stars, 
cannot  be  accomplished  or  be  hastened  by  the 
denial  of  the  reality  of  the  starlight  ;  and  cer- 
tainly it  cannot  be  effected  by  the  foolish  fail- 
ure to  distinguish  between  the  glorious  sheen 
of  those  splendid  fires  and  the  feeble  glimmer- 
ing of  a  sputtering  candle,  though  it  be  true 
that  both  alike  are  extinguished  by  the  sun- 
shine. 


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m  irai  ftipbrm 

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helped  by  the  Catholic  Fenelon,  so  may  he  be  aided  by  the  Romanist  Faber." 

The  Indtpendent,  New  York. 
"  We  have  here,  not  Faber  the  Romanist,  but  Faber  the  devout,  tender,  large-souled 
Christian  ;  his  meditations,  broad,  deep,  searching,  such  as  will  help  the  spiritual  life." 

The  Church  Eclectic,  Utica. 
"  This  book  is  just  what  will  be  eagerly  welcomed  by  the  many  who  know  something 
of  Faber,  but  who  are  deterred  by  his  voluminousness.     Here  is  a  really  valuable  book 
added  to  our  devotional  store." 

The  Observer,  New  York. 
"  Their  devout  and  beautiful  spirit  will  be  appreciated  by  all  Christian  people." 

The  Courier,  Boston. 
"  The  poetic  temperament  of  the  author  pervades  all   his  works  and  gives  them  an 
irresistible  charm,  while  his  undoubted  piety  will  make  these  extracts  welcome  to  all  true 
Christians  of  every  creed." 

Copies  will  be  mailed,  postage  prepaid,  upon  receipt  of  price. 

THOMAS  W1IITTAKER,  Publisher,  2  k  J  Bible  House,  Sew  York. 


